KB24 Kobe Bryant NFT On Pace To Raise Millions for the Mamba & Mambacita Sports Foundation

How two L.A. market disruptors are launching an NFT to raise millions for the Mamba & Mambacita Sports Foundation in honor of Kobe Bryant.

Within just 48 hours of announcing an NFT art collection in Kobe Bryant’s honor, the KB24.com website received over 7,000 reservation requests. The website, once Kobe Bryant’s official personal website, is now allowing fans of the late Lakers legend to memorialize him while also donating to the Mamba & Mambacita Sports Foundation in honor of him and his late daughter Gianna.

If you’re a Kobe fan, surely you’ve visited KB24.com at one point or another. First launched in 2006, the site housed Kobe’s forum, his limited edition merch, and allowed him to update fans directly. The team behind KB24 — lifelong Kobe fans and digital entrepreneurs — Andy Treys and Sako Waves, purchased the website in an aftermarket sale with no intention of creating an NFT.

Andy and Sako are market disruptors, who specialize in launching startups across multiple spaces by leveraging influencer and viral marketing. During a late night work session on an unrelated project, the duo was shocked to notice that KB24.com was available to purchase in a secondary domain marketplace. They became upset when they realized the domain, once their favorite childhood website, had for years been used to redirect to malicious websites after falling in the hands of bad actors.

KB24.com meant the world to Andy, as he would visit the site daily from the age of 11, and attended every Kobe Basketball Academy he could since 2009. He even launched a YouTube Channel, “KobeCamp2009,” that highlighted every aspect of the academy and ended up generating millions of views on exclusive Kobe videos.

Without hesitation, Andy and Sako purchased the website, and held on to it until they saw the opportunity to restore its integrity, ultimately deciding to use it to benefit the Mamba & Mambacita Foundation in perpetuity. The KB24 team will donate 100% of proceeds raised through the one-of-a-kind, limited edition NFT drops. In addition, all residual fees on The KB24 NFT will be donated, such that if a fan ever sells their art, all of the residual fees of the sale price will automatically be donated to the foundation as well — something not possible with traditional charitable sales.

“The NFT digital art market has exploded in the last year as crypto investors look to enter the space,” a representative from the KB24 team said. “The possibilities are endless and we want to utilize that momentum to help fund non profit organizations working with communities to foster their love for basketball and sports in general.”

Every aspect of this project serves to highlight Kobe’s great achievements and have fans be a part of it. Each NFT will be 100% unique by combining different attributes that represent Kobe’s achievements, moments in his career, or personality.

Last week, as thousands of fans requested reservations, presale codes were sent out to those who signed up on KB24.com before Sept. 13, 2021. Currently, the site is offering fans more opportunities to get in the presale via contests announced daily on their Discord. They’re on track to instantly sell out of the KB24 NFT within seconds of launching, raising nearly $3 million for the Mamba & Mambacita Sports Foundation. The KB24 team believes the secondary market sales for the KB24 NFT are going to break records and raise even more money for the foundation, reaching an estimated $50 million in residual revenue over time. They’ll be releasing a sneak peak of the KB24 NFT in the next 48 hours.

What is an NFT?

So what’s an NFT, you ask? KB24s are 10,000 algorithmically generated unique and collectible KB24s stored on the Ethereum blockchain. All KB24’s will be algorithmically generated using base layers created by the The KB24 Team. There are over 100 attributes across 8 categories: These categories include Jerseys, Accomplishments, Accessories, and a few surprises. With these attributes, it gives millions of unique KB24 combinations but with only 10,000 being minted, some are more unique and rare than others.

What Was KB24.com?

KB24.com was once Kobe Bryant’s official website, first launched in 2006. It housed his forum, his limited edition merch, and allowed for him to update fans directly.

Who is Behind the KB24 NFT?

The team behind KB24 is rooted from lifelong Kobe fans and digital entrepreneurs. Andy Treys and Sako Waves purchased KB24.com in an aftermarket sale with no intention of an NFT, but as a digital memorabilia they can hold forever of their favorite childhood idol. Andy and Sako are market disruptors, who specialize in launching startups across multiple spaces by leveraging influencer and viral marketing. During a late night work session on an unrelated project, Andy and Sako were shocked KB24.com was available to purchase in a secondary domain marketplace and became upset when they realized the domain, once their favorite childhood website, for many years was being used to redirect to malicious websites after falling in the hands of bad actors. The KB24 website meant the world to Andy, as he would visit the site daily since the age of 11, and attended every Kobe Basketball Academy he could since 2009, even launching a YouTube Channel KobeCamp2009 that highlighted every aspect of Kobe Basketball Academy, generating millions of views on exclusive Kobe videos from the camp for years to come. Andy and Sako without hesitation purchased the website, and held on to it until they saw the opportunity to restore the integrity of the website and benefit the Mamba & Mambacita Foundation in perpetuity.

After consulting with multiple mentors and their attorney Jeffrey Bogurt, the duo dedicated themselves and their marketing and design team to fully focus on launching The KB24 NFT. Putting all projects and responsibilities on hold, they reached out to their long time business partners Erin, Vatche, Omkar, Armen and Roman to form a superteam of resources and marketing power. The team moved to San Diego, and housed themselves together in an incubator resembling HBO’s Silicon Valley.

The team’s goal for this project is solely for charitable purposes, as 100% of all proceeds and revenue from the sale of The KB24 NFT will be donated to the Mamba & Mambacita Sports Foundation. In addition, all residual fees on The KB24 NFT will be donated, such that if a fan ever sells their art, all of the residual fees of the sale price will automatically be donated to the foundation as well — something not possible with traditional charitable sales. Being at the forefront of this allows the KB24 NFT to experiment and create a project that will live on forever, and positively impact kids and families through the Mamba & Mambacita Sports Foundation. Looking at The KB24 NFT from a bird’s-eye view, the KB24 NFT can serve as an example for what’s possible when traditional non-profit and charitable organization spaces are disrupted, and instead one-time events make a perpetual impact.

The KB24 NFT team sees this project living forever and being interchanged between Kobe fans finding their favorite moment with the Lakes legend, and with being able to access the Kobe wall that will be hosted publicly, allowing NFT holders to upload their favorite photo or tribute to Kobe and have it be viewed forever by fans visiting his website.

How Will the Profits Be Used?

All proceeds from the collection will be donated to Mamba & Mambacita Sports Foundation — the nonprofit founded in memory of Kobe and Gianna Bryant. 10% royalties will be applied to all resales and donated to the Mamba & Mambacita Sports Foundation in perpetuity.

Does the KB24 NFT Have an Official Partnership With the Foundation?

The foundation has been notified in advance through multiple contacts, and are awaiting their thoughts, and would love for an official partnership. However, they aren’t seeking the partnership for publicity, only a private blessing will be enough to push this project forward.

You can read up on Bosslogic and Cryptographs’ Kobe NFT projects, none of the projects had official partnerships. All of the initial sale will be donated to the foundation, and after that the entire residual fee will be donated as well, in perpetuity. At the very minimum, we will get donation instructions from them.

What Are the KB24 NFTs?

KB24s are 10,000 algorithmically generated unique and collectible KB24s stored on the Ethereum blockchain. All KB24’s will be algorithmically generated using base layers created by the KB24 Team. There are over 100 attributes across 8 categories: These categories include Jerseys, Accomplishments, Accessories, and a few surprises.

With these attributes, it gives millions of unique KB24 combinations but with only 10,000 being minted, some are more unique and rare than others.

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