Dapper Labs CEO Roham Gharegozlou: Disrupting the Industry
The Rise of NFTs and Dapper Labs
Many individuals found themselves seeking to understand NFTs this year, and Roham Gharegozlou, CEO of Dapper Labs, played a significant role in bringing them to the forefront.
NBA Top Shot's Explosive Growth
Gharegozlou’s company experienced rapid growth with its crypto trading card marketplace, NBA Top Shot. The platform achieved viral success, with users spending substantial sums on digital NBA collectibles.
Daily sales volume on Top Shot averaged approximately $20,000-$30,000 towards the end of the previous year. By late February, the platform reached a peak, processing over $45 million in trades, as a new wave of cryptocurrency users joined the platform, according to data from Cryptoslam.
From Niche Startup to Industry Leader
Within a short period, Gharegozlou’s firm transitioned from a relatively unknown crypto gaming startup to a company with a reported valuation of $7.5 billion, attracting significant investment from venture capitalists.
The Impact on the NFT Market
The sudden surge in Top Shot’s popularity catalyzed a major moment for NFTs, facilitating billions of dollars in transactions within an asset class that was largely unfamiliar just months before.
Gharegozlou will be speaking at Disrupt this September 21-23, where he will discuss the future of NFTs, crypto gaming, and the decentralized internet.
Dapper Labs' History of Innovation
NBA Top Shot wasn’t Dapper’s initial success story. In 2017, CryptoKitties – a digital cat trading game – gained traction among early adopters and temporarily overloaded the Ethereum network, prompting crucial improvements to the blockchain.
Gharegozlou envisions a specific future for the crypto web, with Dapper Labs heavily invested in the proprietary Flow blockchain, which powers Top Shot.
The company aims to onboard additional gaming platforms to utilize the faster and more energy-efficient blockchain network, and investors have committed hundreds of millions of dollars to support this endeavor.
The Future of NFTs
Given the recent significant decline in the overall NFT market’s sales volume, is a recovery possible? Will developers shift away from the widely used Ethereum blockchain in favor of Dapper’s more centralized network?
Could NFTs fundamentally alter the entire online economy? These questions will be explored with Gharegozlou at Disrupt.
Attend Disrupt 2021
Join Gharegozlou and over 10,000 influential figures from the startup world at Disrupt 2021, taking place online from September 21-23.
Secure your pass to attend now for under $99 for a limited time!