StockX, an online fashion marketplace co-founded in 2016 by Cleveland Cavaliers owner Daniel Gilbert, is launching an NFT collection called “Vault NFTs” that will be tied to physical products.
The platform, which started as a marketplace to trade and sell rare sneakers, has since branched out into streetwear, collectibles, electronics, watches and other luxury goods. StockX believes there are many similarities between NFTs and rare sneaker collections and is dedicated to merging the physical and digital worlds of collecting.
This is what we know about the Vault NFT collection:
- Vault NFTs are tied to the ownership of a physical product.
- The NFTs are stored in a literal vault and can be accessed by the owner if they choose to do so.
- The NFTs can also be traded on the platform without any need for shipping.
Here’s what CEO Scott Cutler had to say about the launch:
“Today, we’re launching Vault NFTs, an experience where our customers can invest in NFTs tied to physical products and trade them instantly with lower fees. We believe that the physical items that trade on our platform are part of a new alternative asset class that can be uniquely associated with NFTs.
He continued, “Vault NFTs will help unlock new trading opportunities, reimagining what is possible when it comes to investing in current culture on StockX. By bridging the physical and digital worlds, we’re able to provide a more efficient trading experience anchored by lower costs and storage capabilities — a buyer no longer has to wait several days before they can resell a product, and they don’t have to pay the fees associated with multiple legs of shipping and physical authentication.”
StockX, currently valued at $3.8 billion, is expected to go public sometime in 2022. The company is following in the footsteps of many other major brands that have entered the NFT space recently, including Nike, Adidas, Walmart, the Gap and Crocs.
While combining physical products with NFT technology is nothing new, with this collection, StockX makes it easier for sneaker heads and collectors to buy, sell, trade and flip rare sneakers that are connected to non-fungible tokens.
We can only speculate about what the future holds. But we suspect this is likely the first of many NFT drops from StockX.