During the COVID-19 turmoil, online platforms started to dominate, not only in the stock market world but in the gambling arena as well. This is best exemplified by DraftKings (DKNG) price moves, following broadly the ebbs and flows of the governments’ COVID-19 management.
Recently, the $20 billion fantasy sports and betting platform fell after an Argus Research firm cut its rating due to expected revenue slowdown and greater regulation, as some U.S. states don’t approve of online sports betting. Nonetheless, DraftKings is not sitting idly, but moving further into the blockchain territory with a major deal with Zero Hash to validate transactions for Polygon.
Zero Hash On-Ramps DraftKings as a Polygon Validator
Polygon (MATIC) is one of Ethereum’s most popular layer 2 scalability solutions, holding $3.64 billion worth of cryptos locked inside its smart contracts. It is like a road attached to Ethereum’s highway in order to lessen its congestion. As a result, Polygon’s gas fees are drastically lower than on Ethereum’s mainchain.
Now, Polygon is getting a powerful ally to further scale up Ethereum. Already using Polygon for its own NFT marketplace, DraftKings will become one of its biggest governing entities. The proof is in the pudding. Just like in other proof-of-stake blockchain networks, Polygon validators verify user transactions for small rewards.
The more stake a validator has as a collateral, i.e., the amount of MATIC tokens, the more likely it is that the validator will be earning rewards from transactions. Hence, the proof-of-stake, instead of Bitcoin’s proof-of-work that uses energy-hungry computational power to accomplish the same.
Zero Hash, a company launched precisely with the goal of making business-to-business blockchain on-ramps, will make it happen. This is another win for Zero Hash after its successful $105 million fundraising round this January.
What Are the More Expensive NFTs on DraftKings Marketplace?
The first aspect to note when visiting DraftKings NFT marketplace is that it is geo-locked to the U.S., Canada, and other specific countries, which allow for sports betting. Although needing a VPN is a big departure from other universal NFT marketplaces, it speaks to the DraftKings’ baggage as an online casino platform, just a tab away.
DraftKings also focuses on sports NFTs, usually much lower in price than multi-million dollar CryptoPunks or Bored Apes. Case in point, even notable celebrities’ autograph NFTs, such as Tiger Woods, Tony Hawk, or Tom Brady, don’t go beyond $100k as the most expensive NFTs on offer.
Interestingly, DraftKings curates its NFTs by partnering with Autograph, an NFT company founded by Tom Brady, the legendary Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback. Since the launch of the marketplace last summer, DraftKings marketplace released 116 NFT collections, accruing $44 million in total sales.
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