Adidas’ debut NFT collection made $43 million, ranking 2nd on OpenSea

The first NFT from Adidas Originals’ “Into the Metaverse” project has generated 11,391 Ether, worth over $43 million, on OpeanSea. This collection has earned the second spot by trading volume on OpeanSea after RTFKT’s Clone X and Takashi Murakami collection.

Over the weekend, Adidas’ first NFT effort made over $23 million in Ethereum, from a $15.5 million Early Access phase and $7.5 million in general sales. In addition, it wasn’t entirely smooth sailing — Adidas had to halt early transactions due to a technical glitch.

In total, after 72 hours, in a collaborative NFT project, Adidas Originals, gmoney, Bored Ape Yacht Club, and PUNKS Comic make $43 million, reaching the second spot on OpenSea rankings. Almost 20,000 copies of the Phase 1 NFT have been sold so far.

This NFT is not a collector’s item but an access token that provides its owner exclusive access to virtual wearables in the Sandbox gaming metaverse and the ability to redeem related physical products in 2022.

Owners of the NFT could also receive a physical version of the PUNKS Comic Issue 2: X Marks the Drop, a graphic story about all the characters in the collection. The comic is also available separately for purchase on PUNKS Comic’s OpenSea profile. PUNKS Comic’s developer team Pixel Vault reportedly took a portion of the proceeds of the OpenSea sale and put it back into the PUNKS community treasury.

The success of this effort has proven there’s an audience for NFT collaborations, starting with this partnership with Bored Ape Yacht Club (an existing collection of Bored Ape NFTs).

After tweeting about a partnership with Coinbase and showcasing its own Sandbox land plot, Adidas has firmly planted its sneakers in the metaverse with the success of its exclusive NFT drop. Rival Nike has also expanded its digital footprint by partnering with the virtual sneakers and collectibles brand RTFKT, the top trending OpenSea collection at the time of publication.