Hey guys. I’ve been working with the Jamaican Bobsled Team over the last few months, like half of the year honestly, on an NFT project that will help fund their journey to the Olympic Games in 2022. I just wanted to talk about it a little bit so that everyone could have a clear idea of some of my thoughts around this project and it’s impact and implications for the space at large. This is also my first Mirror native post & I’m feeling pretty pumped (shouts out to y’all for opening everything up because the $WRITE Race was stressing me out and I was never gonna do it), so let’s dig in.

I’ve been talking and thinking a lot about how NFTs and crypto create new methods of funding for all sorts of people and industries. I’ve been seeing plenty of examples of this in the film industry, with creators offering NFTs to help with the funding and/or release of the project. A lot of times, these come with special perks like partial ownership, or guaranteed copies of the project upon release, or Executive Producer credits. When we talk about the creator economy having its real moment and how independent creatives now have a chance to compete with these larger powers that be, this is an example of that. Taking it a step further, you’re able to create businesses, fund organizations and enhance organizations, from local to international, daresay Olympic level.

I think a lot about how when people mention bobsled, as just a concept or even in word association, people will say “Cool Runnings” so often. This $17 million budgeted film made $154 million in the box office, almost 10x’ing what it cost to make back in 1993 when it released. It’s very interesting to me how Disney hasn’t stepped in to support the team over all of these years, but this new tech - the combination of web3 and NFT - can allow for new opportunities to be had. Opportunities where we aren’t relying on production companies to use our stories with little to no recompense, because we can use web3 technology to fund the creation and release of these works, all while tokenizing it for our supporters. I see this project as the first step in that! The Jamaican Bobsled Team, in all of its nostalgic brand glory, deserves to be able to make it to any and every Olympic Game possible. I think about Jamaican Bobsled and how it paved the way for mainstream consumption the same way as I do for how the anime Slam Dunk impacted the sport of basketball in Japan. I think about how Disney raked in $150 million beyond the budget of the film. I think about how the most renown and successful bobsled teams in the world spend around $3 million an Olympic season to keep their teams up. I think, again, about how web3 and NFT will be able to shape people and organizations via direct support without anyone in between them and the money.