According to Forbes last September, Dinwiddie was launching a cryptocurrency-based social app calaxy that would launch a series A funding round in two weeks with the goal of achieving a 9-figure valuation.
Fans can buy tokens posted by creators for benefits and interact with them, and even vote on decisions posted by creators, such as what shoes to wear on the pitch and what songs to write next.
While Calaxy is still conducting internal testing and entering the public beta phase in a few weeks, this does not prevent the project from attracting investors' attention.
Just recently, Calaxy raised $7.5 million in funding. According to Coindesk, the round was raised by Animoca Brands, Red Beard Ventures, Arkstream Capital, NGC Ventures and Genesis Block Ventures.
TELEVISION STAR MATT JAMES, NFL star Ezekiel Elliott, NFL player Larry Ogunjobi, NBA coach Luke Walton and others were also involved. Among them, James, Elliott, as well as NBA player Iman Shumpert and singer-songwriter Teyana Taylor are all in the list of creators in the public beta stage released by Calaxy.
The funding was made through simple agreements for future tokens, Chinese transit abbreviated as "Simple Future Token Protocols"). According to Coindesk, the money will be used to build Calaxy's infrastructure and also add some features, such as having creators tokenize their contracts.
Calaxy COO and co-founder Solo Ceesay said that next Calaxy will have a clubhouse-like launch event, inviting influential influencers and their communities to join, trying to create some sense of missing anxiety (FOMO) for the platform.
Dinwiddie has always been passionate about cryptocurrencies and has been active in this space.
SportTechie reported that Calaxy's strategic advisor is Lobper Labs CEO Roham Gharegozlou, while Dapper Labs is the developer of the popular virtual star card platform NBA Top Shot, and Dinwiddie is its investor.
In September 2019, Dinwiddie launched Dream Fan Shares, an innovative investment platform designed to help accredited investors invest in athletes or entertainers by issuing paints tokenized broker businesses, enabling athletes, artists and influencers to access funding earlier.
Soon after, Dinwiddie plans to issue a token called "$sd 8" through Dream Fan Shares, secured by his three-year, $34.35 million contract, with a minimum investment of $150,000. Through this program, Dinwiddie can get the salary of the new contract in advance, which can then be used for investment, and the return of investors is based on Dinwiddie's future performance.
"If I have a good performance in the contract year and get a big contract, I have a dividend in the first year after it comes into effect. You invest, and the rate of return can be up to 15%, just like a growth stock. Dinwiddie said in an interview with the athletic.
But the plan was rejected by the coalition on the grounds of violating the collective bargaining agreement.
In the current boom of "everything is available", the application of blockchain technology and cryptocurrency is increasing, and it is not only Calaxy that is favored by capital.
NBA Top Shot is the star in the NFT Star Card platform. In the first quarter of this year, NBA Top Shot generated $500 million in trading volume, accounting for a third of the total $1.5 billion in the U.S. NFT market. The Information reported that the developer of NBA Top Shot, Dapper Labs, has been valued at $7.5 billion after the latest round of funding.
In 2020, Leore Avidar set up a star card trading and valuation platform alt, and in March 2021, it received a round of $62 million in funding. NBA star Kevin Durant participated in the round of funding with trinity five ventures, founded by agent Rich Kleiman.
During this period of recovery from injury, Dinwiddie has more energy to focus on the company. With the launch of the Calaxy app, Dinwiddie, as a basketball player and also as a major shareholder in a blockchain company, is ready to start the next NBA season.
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