The Bitbuy Brief: Tom Brady Uses Retirement to Focus on NFT Startup

Issue #170: Tom Brady Retires to Focus on NFT Startup “Autograph” 🤯

February 3rd, 2022

Weekly Market Recap

Bitcoin briefly broke above the $49K CAD resistance level only to drop 6% since then. Making it flat on the week.

Solana gained almost 9% on the week.

The big gainer on the week was Ethereum at 12%.

If you’re interested in Ethereum’s tokenomics Ryan Allis (of Coinstack) analyzed it using a DCF model. Here’s the link to it.

As always, if you’re looking to trade the latest market moves, click here to access your account.

Crypto in The News

Web3 is the future, or a scam, or both. So what exactly is Web3, and why is everyone in Silicon Valley obsessed with it? – Vox

Morgan Stanley Sees $8 Trillion Metaverse Market – In China Alone – Blockworks

Metaverse real estate sales top $500 million, and are projected to double this year – CNBC

Pop Star Justin Bieber Buys Bored Ape NFT for $1.29 Million, Pays More Than 300% Above Floor – Bitcoin.com

Cryptocurrency exchange FTX hits $32 billion valuation despite bear market fears – CNBC

Coachella is selling lifetime passes as NFTs – NBC News

Ukraine is going all-in on becoming the world’s premiere crypto superpower. Now the Russia crisis is scaring investors – Fortune

Tom Brady Retires to Focus on Family and NFT Startup Autograph

Image source: Charlie Crist

NFL star quarterback Tom Brady officially hung up his cleats Tuesday after 22 seasons and gave us a glimpse into his post-retirement plans.

“The future is exciting,” the football legend posted on Instagram. “I’m fortunate to have cofounded incredible companies like @autograph.io @bradybrand @tb12sports that I am excited to continue to help build and grow.”

What is Autograph?

Brady co-founded Autograph last April along with Richard Rosenblatt and his son, 23-year old Dillon Rosenblatt, who serves as the startup’s CEO.

The company’s mission is to help athletes and other celebrities develop and market their own digital collectibles. Just go to Autograph.io and you will see some of the sports icons prominently listed including Wayne Gretzky, Tiger Woods, Tony Hawk, Usain Bolt and Derek Jeter. FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried is part of the startup’s Board of Directors.

Autograph partnered with DraftKings to sell its NFTs on the company’s marketplace as well as striking a deal last summer with Lionsgate to produce film-related NFTs.

In 2021, Autograph raised $35 million followed by a second raise of $170 million last month.

How it all began

Brady’s interest in the digital asset space started about a year before co-founding Autograph.

Speaking at the ‘CoinDesk’s Consensus 2021 Conference’ the legend said that he wanted to be part of the crypto industry after conversations with one of his coaches prior to the 2020 NFL season.

“It’s really been a crash course in this offseason. All these things happen pretty quickly,” he said at the time. “But obviously the more I learned about crypto and blockchain technologies, I really was wanting to be a part of building a great platform that could create opportunities for myself, other artists, other entertainment brands to create great collectibles.”

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