Iron Mike has made his return to non-fungible tokens. On Monday, Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world, announced the Mike Tyson Mystery Box NFT drop. The collection of 15,000 will be divided into tiers, with each tier having different benefits. The tiers are:
- Bronze (9,000 NFTs): Special collector’s edition artwork #1
- Silver (4,000 NFTs): Special collector’s edition artwork #2
- Gold (1,950 NFTs): Special collector’s edition artwork #3
- Platinum (35 NFTs): Physical Mike Tyson merchandise
- Diamond (15 NFTs): Autographed Mike Tyson merchandise
The sale starts on April 5th at 11:00 am UTC. Users will be able to buy up to 50 Mystery Boxes and resell them on the Binance NFT Marketplace if they wish. Those who pull a Platinum or Diamond NFT can go through a KYC process to have their merchandise shipped to them.
Those who hold on to their Mystery Boxes will receive three airdrops over the year and exclusive access to Iron Mike’s next NFT drop. Henric Aryee, an “award-winning illustrator,” created the art for all of the NFTs, according to the Binance website. He is from Stockholm and has “high profile” clients.
Athletes Try to Capitalize on Web3
The Mystery Box NFT drop is not Mike Tyson’s first foray into NFTs. In 2021, he changed his picture to a Cool Cat and engaged with the community. He also released his first collection on OpenSea, titled the Mike Tyson NFT collection. This set of NFTs featured iconic moments from Tyson’s life, reimagined by artist Cory Lew. It was a big hit at the release, though it now has a floor of 0.08 ETH.
Other athletes like Serena Williams and Neymar have joined the popular Bored Ape Yacht Club. They changed their profile pics on social media accounts to the Apes at the time, much to the delight of NFT owners and the chagrin of their more mainstream fans.
And many athletes are dropping NFT collections. Tom Brady’s NFT marketplace Autograph, which seeks to pair athletes who have impressive followings with their fans via NFTs, raised $170 million in January. Michael Jordan recently released his NFT collection called Seven Rings, featuring bull busts with rings attached to the horns.
There’s little doubt that one of NFTs’ most robust early use cases is for collectibles, and athletes are taking advantage. Time will tell if Mike Tyson’s Mystery Box collection will be a success, but there’s little doubt that NFTs have gained popularity throughout 2022, after a banner year in 2021.