Animoca Brands subsidiary Lympo to host auction of athlete NFT trading cards

A subsidiary of former ASX-listed company Animoca Brands is auctioning off licensed digital trading cards of 13 athletes, with bidders possibly getting the chance to meet the sports stars.

The greatest of all time (GOAT) NFTs are being auctioned off by Lympo, a Tallinn, Estonia-based blockchain company that Animoca acquired for US$1.38 million last December, in conjunction with crypto giant Binance and leading NFT marketplace Opensea.

The animated cards come with perks. For example, if the GOAT card for Eddie Hall sells for US$100,000 or more, buyers will get a meet-and-greet with the British strongman after a show. If it sells for less, they might get a video call from the deadlift world record-holder.

The NFT for MMA fighter Rose Namajunas has similar tiers, with the opportunity to meet and greet the American UFC strawweight champ after a fight if the successful bidder drops six figures.

The other athletes whose NFTs are being auctioned are Lithuanian poker player Tony G; French soccer stars Colin Dagba and Moussa Diaby; Russian long jumper Dariya Klishina; American MMA artist Anthony Pettis; British boxer Samuel Maxwell; Lithuanian strongman Zydrunas Savickas; Russian figure skater Alexandra Trusova; British powerlifter Rhianon Lovelace; French kickboxer Anissa Meksen; and Lithuanian kickboxer Sergej Maslobojev.

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Some of the benefits attached to the NFTs can be claimed every year, such as birthday shoutouts. The owners of the NFTs could resell them, with the perks rolling over to the new owner.

The owners of the NFTs will also be able to stake them for rewards in the Lympho ecosystem.

While the GOAT cards are unique, the athletes have other trading cards available for minting on the Lympho platform. Each athlete has five legendary cards, 25 epic cards, 100 rares, 1,000 uncommon and 5,000 common cards.

Users mint the cards with credits they receive by staking Lympo’s LYM coin, an ERC-20 (Ethereum) token. This afternoon LYM coins were trading for US1.5c, up 1.9 per cent from yesterday. It’s the No. 889 crypto.

The auctions for the GOAT cards will begin on August 30 on Opensea and on Binance’s new NFT marketplace.

“We are glad to see such enthusiasm ahead of the auction from the sports stars we work with,” said Lympo chief executive Ada Jonuse.

“Fan engagement is the true value of our Lympo GOAT NFTs: they are not only great digital collectibles but also a real way to personally connect with sports stars and claim additional value in our ecosystem.”

Lympo was founded as a “blockchain fitness company” that rewarded users for exercising by giving them LYM tokens. But it appears to have pivoted away from that business entirely, judging from its website.