Spencer Dinwiddie’s full-court crypto press

By Brooklyn Magazine Staff

Spencer Dinwiddie is a cryptic guy living in a crypto world.

Last fall, the Brooklyn Nets point guard had signaled that he wanted to use his contract with the National Basketball Association as a digital investment vehicle. The intention was to go public with an “$SD8” token offered by his company DREAM Fan Shares that would enable investors to essentially buy into Dinwiddie’s three-year, $34.4 million contract. Investors would essentially be betting on whether Dinwiddie would play well enough to score a more lucrative contract in the second year. The NBA called foul.

Turns out to have been for the best that he didn’t get his wish as Dinwiddie has become an ideal trade asset, according to NBA Analysis Network.

But that’s not the story. And it hardly put an end to Dinwiddie’s crypto dreams. In March Dinwiddie took the unconventional step of launching a blockchain-backed digital token. It was, it turns out, only the beginning of a more ambitious plan to use blockchain to launch a new platform. In October Dinwiddie announced his team had created an app called Calaxy, short for “creator galaxy,” where creators and influencers can to sell digital blockchain-backed tokens integrated with digital contract company ChainLink.

Today Dinwiddie has announced that he’s entered a partnership with Bison Trails, a New York-based blockchain scheme. Dinwiddie’s goal is to draw investors toward crypto purchases on his chosen networks, Polkadot and Flow, which Bison Trails supports, reports Sportico.

Confused? Well, it’s confusing!

This effectively represents one of the first instances in which a celebrity has taken an active role in securing a blockchain network. This comes as crypto is front page news everywhere since Bitcoin just blew through its all time high (currently above $23,000). That said, this is not the first sportsball player to dabble, though he is Brooklyn-based.

Bison Trails will enable fans of Dinwiddie to delegate $FLOW and $DOT tokens to their respective nodes to help secure the networks and earn staking rewards on their existing tokens. Bison Trails, naturally, is touting this in a statement as “a trailblazing moment and a catalyst for other celebrities and influencers to power validators on networks they interact with while earning rewards and engaging with fans.”