Los Angeles startup, Bank of Kicks, plans to launch the first crypto bank backed by sneakers. It’s been the company’s vision to fund a bank reserve for crypto deposits with real physical assets; as well as, “on-chain” digital assets since inception. The startup will fund their “off-chain” reserve with rare, collectible physical sneakers, taking advantage of the emerging asset class. No stone will be left unturned for the sneaker reserve, which will serve as partial asset backing for crypto deposits and depositors. The collection will be housed in a high–security vault. “It’s a thing actually. There are a number of private vaults that are managed by 3rd parties. A lot of them in Switzerland and even the UK,” says COO Brandon Nall.
According to Bloomberg Businessweek, in 2020 the global sneaker market was valued at $79 Billion dollars and is expected to grow to $120 Billion by 2026. And that’s just the primary market. The secondary sneaker market is booming, with $2 Billion in sales annually and year over year growth of 20%, reveals the research of Cowen & Co. The secondary markets are where exclusive, limited–edition sneakers are sold via resale. “Sneakers have come of age. Or, I should say, the markets are coming of age. The investment sectors are really seeing the value and the growth potential in the sneaker space. Our goal ultimately is to bring sneakers, as an asset class, closer to traditional capital markets with blockchain infrastructure”, says founder Laneia Moore. The startup will launch a defi ecosystem, in parallel, to their banking products that will enable sneaker derivatives, a decentralized prediction market for kicks and more.
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Bank of Kicks will have a native token bofk coin that supports their crypto economics system and will also support POS and ecommerce payments. They will first launch on Ethereum’s mainnet with an ERC-20 Token of the same name. Currently, Bank of Kicks is working on what they’ve called a “launch airdrop”, where they will do an exclusive airdrop of the bofk coin alongside a popular shoe drop or shoe release. The coming shoe release calendar looks promising with some big cultural classics hitting the web and stores near the holidays like, the Off-Whites and Air Jordan 6’s. “We are looking to partner with retailers and starting those conversations now. We are eyeing the American and South Korean markets. One reason is because of their passion for sneakers and of course, crypto”, says Moore. The Bank of Kicks tokenomics and protocol will be detailed in their forthcoming white paper.
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Bank of Kicks has tagged themselves, “a crypto bank and defi platform for the culture”, owning their desire to be a niche platform for the culture of sneakerheads, sneaker aficionados, sneaker resellers, crypto fanatics, and trendsetters.
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