Basketball Star “Kevin Durant” Files Patents For 26 New NFTs And Metaverse Apps

Notable individuals, brands, organizations, and institutions seeking new ways to interact with their audience, continue leveraging non-fungible tokens (NFTs) while earning some revenue from NFTs products.

Kevin Durant, the professional basketball player who plays for the Brooklyn Nets of the National Basketball Association (NBA), is one of the latest celebrities to join the NFT and Metaverse space.

According to Michael Kondoudis, the licensed trademark attorney, who broke the news via Twitter on May 24, Durant’s Venture Capital firm, “Thirty-Five Ventures LLC,” filed a patent for 26 trademarks NFT applications with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) on May 19.

If his patents are approved, Durant will allow his sports fans to readily purchase downloadable and unique NFTs, NFT-backed media, and crypto-collectibles and trade them on popular NFT marketplaces.

Notable Names And Brands Join NFTs And The Metaverse

Durant now joins the growing list and trend of popular personalities, institutions, and brands showcasing interest in the Metaverse and NFTs. Other newcomers in the NFT space include football legend David Beckham, recording artist Billie Eilish, American lingerie brand Victoria’s Secret, and food industry giants McDonald’s (NYSE: MCD).

Taco Bell, KFC and Pizza Hut, beverage company Monster Energy, and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), global payment facilitator MasterCard (NYSE: MA) have also joined the NFT space.

NFT Mania Continues In 2022

Although NFTs are new products, their interests are soaring rapidly. Reliable sources from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) confirm that US NFTs trademark applications in 2021 increased more than 400-fold, with the highest number recorded in December.

The NFT mania appears to continue in 2022, with the total trade volume exceeding $54 billion in April. Earlier this week, Marie Tatibouet, the chief marketing officer at Gate.io, shared her prediction suggesting that NFTs will surpass the market capitalization of Bitcoin in the future. For now, whether these predictions will be fulfilled remains uncertain.