Almost 10,000 images of tennis balls plunge up to 90% in value as Australian Open appears to ditch NFTs
Share:
Ball artworks were worth about $278 in 2022, falling steeply to as low as $25 on NFT exchange OpenSea. Nearly 10,000 images of balls have plunged up to 90% in value after Tennis Australia appears to have walked away from its non-fungible token (NFT) program three years after it began selling the artworks to punters.
![[An Australian Open Artball work.]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/eb5e2b517dfb84582e1d645005e183f722a3d942/0_0_1920_1080/master/1920.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
Launched at the peak of hype around NFTs, the Australian Open’s Artball program allowed keen fanatics to buy 6,776 ball artworks sold as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) that are linked to 19cm x 19cm plots on the court at Melbourne Park. In 2023, the Open had an additional 2,454 NFTs on offer.
![[AO Artball 2023 artwork created as part of the 2023 NFT launch. Australia]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/26675aaecb1978df71e512480eab64b317adac4a/0_0_1920_1080/master/1920.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
The balls in 2022 were priced at 0.067 in the ethereum cryptocurrency – about $278 at the time of minting on 22 January 2022 – and all NFTs were sold. In 2023, the balls were minted starting at 0.23ETH each – about $446 at the time. Due to the increased value of ethereum against the Australian dollar, today those NFTs would be worth $338 and $1,162, had they retained their value.
However, customers left holding the NFT balls might have noticed a significant drop in the value of their NFT asset. The current floor price for the balls on OpenSea is 0.005ETH, equating to roughly $25. Recent NFT sales of the balls have ranged from 0.003ETH (A$15) up to 0.0175ETH (A$89) – all significantly lower than the prices at which they were minted.
Tennis Australia marketed the NFT program as similar to a frequent flyers program, offering a Discord channel for NFT holders, ground passes for finals weeks and behind-the-scenes access, as well as passes to matches the following year if the portion of the court held in the NFT was linked to the match point plot on the court.
