NFT firm to auction unseen Kobe Bryant photos for charity

Key Takeaways

• A set of unseen photographs of NBA star Kobe Bryant will be sold as NFT
• Cryptograph, a company for digital collectable, is organising the sales
• Proceeds from the acution will go to Breyant’s charity

YEREVAN (CoinChapter.com) — A day after what would have been the NBA star’s 42nd birthday, a set of never-seen-before photos of Kobe Bryant hit the NFT market. Cryptograph, a digital collectables company, is organizing the sales of the said non-fungible tokens.

Bryant was an iconic basketball player who spent his career at the Los Angeles Lakers. He was posthumously inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2021 after his death from a helicopter crash.

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Commemorating Kobe Bryant’s legacy 

It is by no accident that Cryptograph chose August 24 as the day to launch the NFTs in the star’s name. The day after the star’s birthday has been celebrated in Los Angeles as Kobe Bryant Day since 2016. 

The collection consists of eight black and white photos Bryant taken in 1999. The photographs are collectively named “Kobe.” 

All proceeds from the sale of the NFTs will go to the Mamba & Mambacita Sports Foundation. The charitable foundation aims to fund sportspersons from underprivileged communities.

Bryant established the non-profit as Mamba Sports Foundation but was later renamed to honor his daughter, Gianna. “Mambacita” was Gianna’s nickname. Kobe was known around the circles as “The Black Mamba.”

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A different Kobe Bryant 

Davis Factor of Smashbox Studios took the eight rare photos put up for sale as NFTs. The set of pictures is special because they depict Bryant from before his illustrious sports career. Davis photographed Bryant in 1999 at an abandoned warehouse in Los Angeles. 

“I think this shoot is special because it’s one of his first fashion shoots,“

Factor said.

The pictures are in black and white and feature Bryant in several different outfits. The eight are titled on Cryptograph’s website as “Easy,” “I See You,” “Jump,” “Leather,” “Sexy,” “Style,” “The Kiss,” and “Time.”

“This shoot is special because you don’t see him in a jersey. He’s Kobe Bean Bryant. You can see the father, the son, the husband come out. It’s just him, raw, in every day Kobe.”

Tommy Alastra, the co-founder of Cryptograph said.

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NFTs continue to help charities 

Ever since the Covid-19 pandemic kicked in, a lot of charities found themselves on the backfoot. The lockdowns ensured that non-profits were unable to hold charity programs and raise necessary funds to continue operations. 

Then came the concept of Non-Fungible Tokens, and charities found new hope. 

NFTs became viable alternatives as they allowed charities, celebrities, and individuals to create digital tokens and auction them off, with all the profits directly going to a charity of their choice. 

With the new auction already up, photographer Davis Factor hopes to make a difference. 

“The purpose of this Kobe Bryant NFT drop, for me, is to raise as much money as humanly possible to give to Kobe Bryant’s foundation,”

Factor said.

While some NFT sales can be mind-boggling, others, like this one, at least have a charitable purpose.