NFT this, crypto currency that; Non-Fungible Token (NFT) has been thrown around quite liberally as of recent, but what exactly is it? As the age of personal media expands, creators have become increasingly cautious in how they protect their content, which is where NFTs come in. The word “fungible” means to be exchanged with an equivalent item, therefore making NFTs one-of-a-kind digital content.

An NFT is essentially a way to protect personal content and assign that particular media to the owner and no one else. This makes it so that only the owner can monetize and distribute that content, to a certain extent. While it is inevitable for things like screenshots and copies of something like a photo of a Picasso painting, to be sent around, the idea is that at the end of the day – only one person can own the real painting.

VYPE Media has introduced the idea of NFTs for student athletes, the first ever of its kind, which will apply to the athletes’ pictures and footage owned by the company and allow these students to monetize from their content. Per state rules, student athletes cannot profit from their name until commencing the last sport season of their high school career or graduation. To combat these rules, VYPE will be setting aside the money earned from NFTs for the featured athletes until they can be legally compensated.

In an online statement, VYPE said, “We believe that everyone, including high school athletes should be able to monetize their own name, image, and likeness. Varsity Chips owns the full rights to all footage and photos used for our NFTs, but we still intend on compensating every athlete who is featured, because it is the right thing to do. While state rules prevent us from entering into agreements with high school student athletes in many states (including Texas), we are setting aside a portion of revenue and a collection of NFTs high school for every athlete featured as soon as we are allowed to per their local state rules (usually after the completion of the season of the last sport they will be participating in at the high school level or graduation of high school).”

Varsity Tokens allow investors to support their local schools. Bridgeland’s own 2022 graduate, Conner Weigman, will be featured. The tokens also allow a unique opportunity to invest in the future of their preferred sport league as many of the featured athletes are likely to go on to college programs and nationally recognized organizations. Will Varsity Tokens be the new rookie card?

For more information on Varsity Token’s, visit VYPE’s website.