- Ebay has announced its entry into the NFT world with a Wayne Grezky drop
- The collection, in association with Sports Illustrated, is on the Polygon blockchain
- Ebay said it would support NFT sales, but few expected an actual drop
Ebay has joined the NFT party with a digital collectible series featuring ice hockey legend Wayne Gretzky. The company announced Monday that it would drop an initial run of 13 limited-edition digital collectibles in partnership with Web3 platform OneOf, with each NFT being a 3-D animated rendering of Gretzky making one of his signature moves. Ebay’s NFT launch comes a year after the company announced a potential move into the digital asset market.
Calling all collectors, you can score our first exclusive NFT drop brought to you by @OneOfNFT with a @SInow x @WayneGretzky digital collectible. 🏒
Starting at $10, you can get a limited edition NFT along with bragging rights, unless you decide to sell it.#NFT #eBayExclusive
— eBay (@eBay) May 23, 2022
Ebay Surprises With Gretzky Drop
Little was known of the form that Ebay’s foray into the NFT world would take, with many suspecting that the platform would simply allow the buying and selling of NFTs on its platform, a la OpenSea. While this may well be in its future, for the moment the company has decided to go direct and offer its own NFTs.
The initial collection, which is selling for $10 per NFT, has been carried out by OneOf, the “green” NFT platform that uses the Polygon blockchain, marking the first time the Ethereum Layer 2 solution has been used for NFTs.
Grezky said in a statement celebrating the launch, which is in tandem with Sports Illustrated:
Forty years ago, I was grateful to be on the cover of Sports Illustrated, it was a monumental moment in my life. I’m honored to bring this collectible experience to my hockey fans who have followed my career for decades.
Third Party NFT Sales Next
The idea of Ebay accepting cryptocurrency payments has always been one of the holy grails for crypto supporters, but the adoption of NFTs has blindsided this notion. Jordan Sweetnam, Senior Vice President and General Manager at eBay, announced in May 2021 that the auction site was “updating eBay’s policy to include the sale of NFTs” with allowable NFTs being “provided by trusted sellers who meet our high standards, across categories like trading cards, music, entertainment and art.”
With the launch of Ebay’s first NFT collection, we can assume that third party sales can’t be too far away.
