Michael Jordan’s HEIR Platform Drops First NFT Collection

In December, Michael Jordan announced his entry into the Web3 sphere with his Solana-based platform HEIR which is geared to allow professional athletes and their fans to connect. Late last week, the NBA legend’s platform launched its very first NFT collection dubbed 6 Rings, drawing inspiration from Jordan’s career in the 1990s where he won six NBA championships with the Chicago Bulls.

Following the drop, HEIR was able to sell 5,005 NFTs priced at 2.3 SOL (around $221) apiece — derived from Jordan’s old jersey number — through the Magic Eden marketplace. Initially, the startup was set to release 10,010 tokens but this was later cut in half primarily due to slower-than-expected sales. The reduced supply has since been sold out.

Each user who purchased the 6 Rings NFTs will also be identified as a “founding fan” giving them certain perks such as access to “Huddles” which are smaller communities for limited users where they can get exclusive content and merch as well as join in on ask-me-anything sessions from featured athletes.

While the platform’s athletes are yet to be revealed, it has been suggested that various basketball players including NBA legends, current NBA players, and high school and professional-level ballers will most likely be involved. Michael Jordan’s son, Jeffrey Jordan is listed as HEIR’s co-founder along with Jeron Smith and Daniel George.

During a seed funding round led by Thrive Capital, Jordan’s HEIR was able to raise $10 million. Solana Ventures, Chicago Bulls guard Lonzo Ball, Reddit co-founder and Seven Seven Six founder Alexis Ohanian, and New York Knicks Executive Vice President William Wesley also participated during the round.

More opportunities to onboard users as “founding fans” will likewise come in the future, according to Jeffrey Jordan. “We’ll be exploring many ways to thoughtfully bring fans into the community, while always ensuring we are honoring our founding fans in a unique way,” he noted.

Smith also recently spoke about why the team chose Solana over other platforms like Ethereum on Twitter. “Ultimately, lower gas fees and transaction costs were super critical to us,” explained Smith. “We had a chance to work with their executive team and understand their vision for Solana and ultimately, we had alignment on ethos and shared sensibilities. They believe a lot of the same things we believe when it came to the Web3 space.”

“The entire team at HEIR is incredibly excited about the potential NFTs and Web3 have in connecting fans and athletes,” added Jeffrey Jordan. “We believe the next generation of consumer entertainment experiences will be built on Web3. We aim to redefine the perspective and functionality of digital culture while creating benefits for original culture creators and those who consume it early.”

Aside from HEIR, Michael Jordan had also participated in The Metaplex Foundation’s $46 million funding round which was held in January. Additionally, the NBA legend also invested in the $150 million Series C round of crypto game developer Mythical Games in November.

Source: Decrypt