Nike battles StockX over NFTs

Future. Nike is taking StockX to task over its planned rollout of its StockNFTs. Nike says it holds the sole right to make NFTs of its product, while StockX says its NFTs have nothing to do with the unique identity of the shoes themselves. In a world where NFTs represent physical objects, can an NFT of the thing itself and an NFT that denotes current ownership exist simultaneously?

Not in your vault
Nike is trying to quiet the hype around StockX’s VaultNFTs.

• Refresher: VaultNFTs is StockX’s way of creating a unique digital certificate for each pair of physical sneakers that they have in stock.
• Nike says not so fast — StockX is a resale store, and Nike says it should be the only one who has the right to mint their shoes as NFTs.

Nike, of course, is making inroads into the metaverse, and being able to offer NFTs of its shoes (especially through its acquisition of RTFKT) is key to its strategy.

Meanwhile, StockX’s VaultNFTs aren’t meant to be the NFT of any particular shoes, but a way to buy and sell shoes among customers in a more sustainable (and cheaper on the company) way.

Who wins? That answer comes down to what kind of ownership NFTs truly represent — forever and always that of the initial creator or whoever currently owns the product?