Basketball star Kevin Durant files for 26 NFT and metaverse applications

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are increasingly leveraged by individuals, brands, organizations, and institutions looking for new ways to interact with their audiences while benefitting from the value offered by such products.

One of the most recent celebrities to join the NFT and metaverse space is Kevin Durant, the professional basketball player for the Brooklyn Nets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). 

Together with his Venture Capital firm Thirty Five Ventures LLC, Durant has filed as many as 26 trademark applications with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) on May 19.

Licensed trademark attorney Michael Kondoudis broke the news via his Twitter profile on Tuesday, March 24:

If the applications are accepted, they will allow the sports star’s fans to purchase his downloadable and unique NFTs, NFT-backed media, and crypto-collectibles, as well as trade them on NFT and crypto marketplaces.

Durant’s filings are part of a growing trend of popular personalities and brands showing interest in the metaverse and NFTs. 

Other newcomers to the space include football legend David Beckham, recording artist Billie Eilish, American lingerie brand Victoria’s Secret, food industry giants McDonald’s (NYSE: MCD), Taco Bell, KFC, and Pizza Hut, beverage company Monster Energy, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), global payment facilitator Mastercard (NYSE: MA), and many others.

It is worth mentioning that NFTs may be a new thing, but the interest in them is soaring. According to research by Finbold, the US NFT trademark applications in 2021 increased more than 400-fold, with the highest number recorded in December. The trend continued in 2022 since the beginning of which the total volume traded in NFTs exceeded $54 billion by April 18.

Interestingly, in late May, Marie Tatibouet, the chief marketing officer at Gate.io, expressed her ‘100%’ belief that NFTs would surpass the market capitalization of Bitcoin (BTC) at some point in the future. Whether her predictions will come true, remains to be seen.