Black Santa NFT Collection To Fundraise For Los Angeles Urban League

Two-time NBA all-star, Baron Davis is teaming up with Crypto.com to release an NFT collection centered on his character, Black Santa. The NFTs will drop on Crypto.com’s NFT platform on Friday, December 17th. Significantly, Davis will donate proceeds from the NFT sales to the Los Angeles Urban League.

Black Santa NFT Latest Example of NBA’s NFT Trend

Black Santa is the central character of Baron Davis’ media company, Uwish. To summarize, the former NBA star created the character due to the reaction he received after dressing as Santa one Halloween. It encouraged him to use the character to help tell stories aimed at inspiring children.

Since then, Black Santa has spun off into its very own company. Indeed, it offers many products through its website. To list some of the things it sells, this includes clothing, books and even an original album, “The Black Santa Winter Wonderland Mixtape”. 

Davis says in a statement about the partnership, “My vision for Black Santa was to give children a magical world of untold possibilities…” He adds that the use of a Santa character helps focus on “the importance of giving, year-round.”

Professional basketball players, as well as the NBA itself, have been some of the well known brands to embrace NFTs at this point. As a matter of fact, many people trace this year’s NFT boom back to the early popularity of NBA Top Shot. By the same token, current NBA superstar, Steph Curry made news when he bought a Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT. After that, many other NBA players followed suit, buying BAYC and other NFTs.

Black Santa NFTs To Serve Company’s Philanthropic Mission

It’s important to note that philanthropy is a key part of the Black Santa mission. To illustrate, Davis and The Black Santa Company have hosted several charity events since the company’s founding in 2016. These include basketball games, toy drives and “Winter Wonderland” events.

As has been noted, some of the proceeds from the NFT sale will go to charity. Specifically, Davis will donate to the Los Angeles Urban League. In essence, the organization works to empower African-Americans and other people from underserved communities in Los Angeles.

Crypto.com Continues To Grow NFT Platform

The collection is a joint effort between Davis’ company, Baron Davis Enterprises and Crypto.com NFT. To clarify, this is the NFT marketplace owned by major crypto trading platform, Crypto.com.

Since its launch, the NFT marketplace has launched a number of high profile celebrity and brand NFT collections. For example, it sells NFTs from BossLogic, Snoop Dogg and The UFC.

Evidently, Crypto.com is creating strong links between itself and the NBA. Aside from the coming partnership with Baron Davis, the site hosts a collection from the Philadelphia 76ers at the present time.

Not to mention the recent news that the platform struck a deal to take over as the sponsor of what is now the Staples Center. In light of the deal, the iconic sports and music venue in LA will officially become the Crypto.com Arena on Christmas Day, 2021.