A blockchain company is finding another way to honor the late Kobe Bryant with NFT’s.
Cryptograph, a digital collectibles enterprise, is auctioning off a series of eight never-before-seen photographs of Bryant as non-fungible tokens, or NFT’s.
Co-founder of the company Tommy Alastra says “NFT’s can eternalize and immortalize.” The black and white images feature “The Black Mamba” during a magazine shoot at an abandoned warehouse in downtown Los Angeles in 1999.
“This shoot is special because you don’t see him in a jersey,” Alastra said. “He’s Kobe Bean Bryant. You can see the father, the son, the husband come out. It’s just him, raw, in everyday Kobe. It’s special.… They’re really quite beautiful.”
According to ESPN, Alastra, is a producer and actor who founded Cryptograph last year with Hugo McDonaugh. McDonaugh is a longtime friend of the photographer Davis Factor.
Alastra recently met with the famed photographer to review Factor’s personal book project when Alastra says he “stumbled on” the Bryant series that had been in Factor’s archives for more than 20 years.
“I was like, ‘Hey, man, this is a great time,’” Alastra recalled. “‘In about two months it’s national Kobe day [on Aug. 24]. Have you ever considered what this could potentially do?’”
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According to Alastra, all proceeds of the sales from the “KOBE” collection of NFT’s will go to the Mamba & Mambacita Sports Foundation.
The NFT’s were put up for auction at 10 a.m. Pacific Time Tuesday and will be available for bidding on Cryptograph’s website for 72 hours.
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