Nifty News: Playboy's revealing tokens, SNL’s NFT skit sold as an NFT, and more...

Playboy centerfolds will be sold as nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, after the classic men’s magazine announced a partnership with Nifty Gateway on Tuesday.

The entertainment and lifestyle brand — famous for its Playboy Bunnies, distinctive logo and the dubious claim that men “only read it for the articles” — is planning to tokenize its art, cartoon and photography archive built up over 67 years, as well as release new original artworks.

In a Tuesday announcement, the brand did not reveal specific details for its NFT drops on Nifty, but it did state its plans to “support emerging and underrepresented artists entering the NFT art community,” with the first set of NFTs to drop in collaboration with former Playboy magazine contributor “Slimesunday,” better known as Mike Parisella, and a following drop set for June, with 3D artist Blake Kathryn to create a pride-focused series of NFTs.

Slimesunday X @Playboy coming soon to @niftygateway ☺️ pic.twitter.com/1GXG0z8udY

— slimesunday (@grimemonday) April 6, 2021

Speaking to Business Insider, Rachel Webber, Playboy's chief brand officer and president of corporate strategy, relayed her enthusiasm for adopting NFTs:

"We see the digital asset revolution as an enormous business opportunity, we see huge growth potential in integrating tokens into our streetwear business, our live experiences, and events, creating a social token economy with our network of talent."

"In the first issue of Playboy magazine, there's this line, 'Picasso, jazz, Nietzsche, and sex, those are the four ideal conversation topics for any sophisticated person,'" she added. "Right in the core of Playboy's DNA is appreciation for art and for great artists."

SNL’s NFT skit sells as an NFT

Saturday Night Live auctioned off its one-of-one “What the hell's an NFT?” skit for 171.99 Ether (ETH), worth roughly $360,000, on OpenSea on Monday.

The NFT depicts a 10-second clip of the skit — a comedic rap by Pete Davidson that breaks down tokenomics — with the NFT including two tickets to an episode taping in season 47. The highest bidder was “Dr_Dumpling,” who has yet to relist on secondary markets and has kept the NFT locked up.

The proceeds will go to a good cause, with the late-night comedy show donating all of the money to Stop AAPI Hate, a nonprofit reporting center that responds to incidents of hate targeted against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, in light of the escalation in xenophobia and bigotry in the United States related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Top college basketballer drops an NFT

Luka Garza has become the first college basketballer to drop an NFT after he released a one-of-a-kind for auction on OpenSea yesterday.

The auction is due to close on Friday, and at the time of writing, there have been four bids so far, with the price moving from 0.25 ETH up to the highest bid of 0.67 ETH, worth more than $1,400.

The National Collegiate Athletic Association or NCAA, currently prohibits college athletes from profiting from their name, image and likeness. However, NFTs could now serve as a new revenue stream for graduating athletes, with Garza now free to capitalize after recently completing his final year of college basketball.

Celebrating winning the Consensus National Player of the Year, Garza is dropping an NFT that depicts a collage of his career highlights, which includes an interesting set of real-world bonuses.

The top bidder will be granted the chance to meet the player, play him in a game of HORSE, share a meditation session, and attend dinner and a movie. Additionally, the highest bidder receives a lifetime VIP pass to Garza’s future basketball camps and a signed pair of game-worn shoes.

NFTs after the bubble bursts

Peter Wood, CEO and co-founder of United Kingdom-based crypto trading platform CoinBurp, thinks that NFTs will reemerge stronger after the initial bubble pops.

During an interview with D-Core on YouTube yesterday, the CEO drew comparisons to Bitcoin (BTC) in 2017, when the price hit a peak of around $20,000 before it crashed, noting that:

“People called Bitcoin a bubble back in 2017, right? And when the bubble popped, they thought it was the end of Bitcoin. A few years later, it was stronger than ever.”

Wood conceded that “I absolutely think it’s a bubble,” as he feels the exorbitant prices and sales in the NFT market are being “inflated by these guys who are trying to get into the space and trying to make a quick buck.”

However, he highlighted that booms and crashes are all natural parts of market cycles, and that investment into NFT infrastructure will stabilize the industry moving forward:

“When it does [burst], and it will eventually because every financial market has this decline, what’s actually left behind will be a ton of more investment, like our company, who are building specifically for NFTs. The products don’t completely flourish over three to six months. We’re building the infrastructure now.”

Coinburp’s exchange was founded in 2018 after Wood transitioned from his previous project, BitBroker — a U.K.-based crypto brokerage website.