On the relative hype scale, the days of ASX companies mentioning the word “blockchain” in an announcement and seeing their share price rise are probably over.

Despite that, activity in the space is still ticking over. For one thing, the ASX itself remains on track to rollout a new clearing & settlement platform based on a permissioned blockchain, which will replace the existing CHESS system.

READ: The ASX want to replace its CHESS system but what will that mean for investors?

And out of the US, a relatively unique blockchain-related story has developed involving NBA basketball player Spencer Dinwiddie.

The 26-year old plays for the Brooklyn Nets, and last year signed a fully guaranteed three-year contract with the team for $US34m ($49.2m). Now he wants to securitise about a third of that money via a tokenised investment platform.

Dinwiddie will earn a bigger chunk of his contract up front, while in return for their “SD8” tokens, sophisticated investors will effectively buy a tokenised bond and receive monthly repayments at an interest rate of 4.95 per cent.

Forbes reported that Dinwiddie first raised his blockchain fintech idea late last year, but ran into a early roadblock: the NBA itself.

The third year of Dinwiddie’s contract is optional, which means if he plays well he can pursue a bigger contract after two years. The initial idea was that if Dinwiddie does earn a bigger contract in future, the value of his SD8 tokens will also rise.

But the league was concerned that by securitising his contract and creating an investment vehicle based on his future earning potential, Dinwiddie was effectively betting on himself; an offence punishable by having his contract terminated.

In response, Dinwiddie restricted the securitised token offer to interest-bearing payments, in return for allowing him access to a larger portion of the funds up front.

The point guard is planning to launch his DREAM Fan Shares later tonight (US time), with the assistance of digital asset platform Securitize.

Securitize CEO Carlos Domingo told crypto publication The Block that the asset would effectively act as a bond based on the Ethereum blockchain.

It remains to be seen how the NBA will respond to the offer. But for now Dinwiddie is getting set to go ahead with the launch of his tokenised asset offering, which at the very least amounts to an interesting piece of sports-based financial innovation.