Story Behind The Shark Boy Fight Club: A Unique Take On NFTs, The Metaverse

To be non-fungible is to be irreplaceable.

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are digital certificates of ownership that can be bought and sold; ownership can be transferred from one entity on the blockchain to another.

These NFTs are trending because consumers and producers are looking for new ways to exchange and maintain ownership transparency of items they value.

In understanding the value of NFT projects, Benzinga spoke with Los Angeles-based Chris Ho of the Shark Boy Fight Club (SBFC) digital gaming art initiative.

Background: Ho’s background is not what you would expect. The Hong Kong native came to the U.S. for computer science education in the early 2000s.

Given a passion for fashion and film-making, Ho then switched his major.

“I ended up graduating in film making and animations,” he said. “Immediately after, I was offered a couple of jobs in television and, after that, ended up being in fashion for a decade.”

His experiences, meshed with an innate entrepreneurial drive, led Ho to found a web development and creative agency working with brands like Juicy Couture.

Graphic: Chris Ho (right) leans on a supercar.

Early Start: Ho first heard of cryptocurrency in 2009 from a financial adviser.

“My stock person came to me and said bitcoin is at like $1, what do you think?”

Though Ho passed on the investment, he later immersed himself in the space, learning about blockchain technology, decentralized finance (DeFi), mining and staking. 

Moreover, as his work and family brought him to Los Angeles, a center for creativity, Ho was immersed in fashion and art.

With the emerging popularity of NFTs, Ho thought he’d take his shot at creative expression in the space with the launch of Shark Boy Fight Club (SBFC).

SBFC is a collection of 8,888 unique digital collectibles — shark avatars — living on the Ethereum ETH/USD blockchain.

Those who purchase these tokens are able to trade, train and compete with their avatars at the SBFC’s FighterVerse, an environment similar to the 3-D virtual reality of the metaverse.

Adding, SFBF’s NFTs provide owners membership to exclusive parties thrown by the company and merchandise.

Graphic: SBFC’s avatars.

The Why: NFTs, in their most basic use cases, are popular because of their authenticity, Ho explained.

“Because of the smart contract concept, everything is transparent,” Benzinga was told.

Additionally, secondary market royalties allow artists to get a cut out of future sales.

“It helps the movements because people own that intellectual property.”

Outlook: Community, above all else, is what matters to the SBFC team.

The addition of FighterVerse, coupled with celebrity endorsements, ought to make the effort more engaging. According to Ho, at the end of the day, it’s about getting people involved and enthused about digital assets and their potential.

“We want to build a community people contribute to,” he said in reference to conversations he’s had with project followers on social media and platforms like Discord.

“I can see us hosting #SharkTalks where people give advice and exchange business ideas,” too.

Check out SBFC on Twitter, Instagram and Discord.