The Chinese auction house said on a Weibo social media post on Thursday that the NBA Top Shot NFTs will appear in a public auction for the first time in mainland China on Sunday since the collection’s debut in June 2020.
Beijing Poly International Auction is a subsidiary of state-backed enterprise the China Poly Group Corporation, and is the third-largest auction house in the world behind Sotheby’s and Christie’s, according to the South China Morning Post.
The highest starting bid for a single NFT is for a dunk highlight of Boston Celtics’ Jaylen Brown from April 11, 2021, one of 99 identical cards, with a starting bid of 40,000 yuan (US$5,976).
Bidders can only pay with Chinese fiat, the RMB, and will be charged 13% of the winning bid in commission.
The NBA has reportedly lost “hundreds of millions” of dollars in revenue following a 2019 fallout with Beijing, but China’s state media outlet CCTV’s recently ended an 18-month broadcasting blackout.
NBA Top Shot has blocked mainland China access, which has not been lifted.
