A post by a Chinese cryptocurrency trader has highlighted the drop in the price of American sneaker-backed tokens in the wake of the issue between the NBA and China.
According to Reuters, on October 16th, the anonymous trader’s Weibo post from earlier this month had shone a spotlight on an apparent 10% crash in the price of crypto tokens backed by Nike’s Air Jordan sneakers on a United States-based exchange.
The trader told Reuters that “It’s clear sneaker speculators were pulling money out of the market,”
He interpreted the market response in the context of Chinese citizens’ anger over a tweet from Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey, where he declared solidarity with anti-government, anti-Beijing protesters in Hong Kong.
According to the the report, Morey who later deleted the controversial tweet was accused of endorsing violence and touting a “secessionist pipe dream” by Chinese state media.
Reuters’ analysis is centered on data from global digital asset exchange 55.com, which the report notes is used by Chinese traders, who while being banned from trading on domestic platforms exchange their yuan for Tether (USDT) via Alipay or WeChat to purchase tokens.
George Gao, a sneaker brand influencer in China with over 38,000 YouTube followers told Reuters that the anger of basketball fans in mainland China over the Morey controversy had been unprecedented.
The NBA’s Chinese market is reportedly estimated to be worth over $4 billion.