Benzinga | Sep 13, 2021 12:01PM EDT

WISeKey Join forces With Polygon To Auction NFT Of Kobe Bryant Autographed Black Mamba Package

WISeKey International Holding ((SIX: WIHN, NASDAQ:WKEY) ("WISeKey", or "the Company"), a leading cybersecurity, AI and IoT company, today announced that it is joining forces with Polygon, the blockchain of choice for NFTs, NFT marketplaces, and blockchain games and GDGC Enterprises, a New York based NFT and luxury asset advisory firm that specializes in the tokenization and sale of select assets across the globe to Auction the NFT of Kobe Bryant Autographed Black Mamba Package to be auctioned by GDGC Enterprises into its WISe.Art Platform

GDGC Enterprises, LLC ("GDGC"), a New York based NFT and luxury asset advisory firm that specializes in the tokenization and sale of select assets across the globe, to auction the late Kobe Bryant autographed Black Mamba NFT package.

Polygon is a platform for Ethereum scaling and infrastructure development, as well as for networking Ethereum-compatible blockchains. The Ethereum ecosystem has been eagerly awaiting the upcoming Ethereum 2.0 upgrade to potentially improve the network's scalability issues.

Polygon has become the blockchain of choice for NFTs, NFT marketplaces, and blockchain games. Its ultra-low transaction fees and sustainable Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism makes Polygon a more practical option for activities such as minting and trading NFTs. Polygon Studios, the Gaming and NFT arm of Polygon already works with most today's top blockchain-based Web 3.0 games and NFT projects, including Decentraland, Opensea, Sandbox, Somnium Space, Decentral Games, and has 6x more gaming and NFT Dapps than any other chains outside of Ethereum main chain at around 300+ gaming and NFT Dapps.

The combination of Polygon and WISeKey technologies are a perfect mix to ensure this type of high end NFT auction that consist of a limited Edition 1/3 18K Rose Gold Tourbillion Black Mamba watch, designed, and signed by Kobe Bryant, a sneaker signed by Kobe Bryant and a custom curated digital artwork designed by New York City based artist Mosh? Douglas. The auction will go live on September 20, 2021, through the WISe.Art digital marketplace, with a starting price of $ 1,008,240.

As previously announced, WISeKey launched its WISe.Art NFT platform ( https://www.wise.art) for the collectible and luxury market on September 1, 2021, following a series of market test auctions, including the two world premiere NFT auctions of the digital twins of a physical watch.

Sandeep Nailwal, Co-Founder of Polygon said, "We are delighted that WISeKey has selected Polygon for the commercial launch of their Trusted NFTs solution. Their high-value NFTs, designed to test the appetite of the art and collectible community requires someone like Polygon, whose ultra-low transaction fees and sustainable Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism are essential in meeting the demands of WISeKey's high-volume marketplace."

Carlos Moreira, WISeKey's CEO noted, "We are excited to have the Black Mamba NFT package auctioned through our WISe.Art platform. Our WISe.Art NFT platform is a fully fledged marketplace with its own digital currency, has the ability to include curators and multipliers, while-labeling options and special NFT designs. The NFT design of the WISe.Art platform ensures that besides an authenticated and signed version of the actual digital asset, it creates an irreversible link to the physical object, provides proof of ownership, provenance and a set of contracts describing future use and monetization streams. The NFT platform secured by WISeKey's various security technologies, enables the authentication of physical objects as well as digital assets, in a safe end-to-end process. Furthermore, NFTs on the WISe.Art platform are fully carbon neutral to comply with upcoming ESG regulations and the desire of most collectors to protect the planet."

In 2013, Kobe Bryant signed the Black Mamba watch which features a manual winding brushed movement, 27 jewels, mono-metallic balance rotating in a one-minute tourbillon carriage, 18k rose gold and titanium case, ceramic bezel insert, ceramic bezel, skeletonized brushed dial, subsidiary dials for the chronograph and 30-minute registers, brushed serpent form around the tourbillon and registers, sapphire crystal back secured with Kobe Bryant signature, single pusher at 2 o'clock and dial and movement signed by Kobe Bryant with an 18k rose gold and titanium deployment clasp.

Diamont? D. Zarba, Managing Partner of GDGC Enterprises LLC commented, "The management team at GDGC is honored to be partnering with globally-renowned WISeKey in our quest to bring luxury realism to the metaverse. We believe that with the launch of the WISe.Art marketplace, WISeKey offers by far the strongest and most secured platform to house the upcoming auction for our one-of-a-kind Black Mamba NFT package. We are not only excited for this transaction but also for the future of the luxury NFT space."

The package is valued at a minimum of $10 million, according to GDGC Enterprises. The firm will donate $50,000 of the proceeds to the Greater Los Angeles Make-a-Wish Foundation.

"That's going to help us probably grant an additional five wishes this year, which is so important with looking at the last year and how hard fundraising has been in our current environment with the pandemic," said Make-A-Wish Greater Los Angeles President and CEO Mike Kallhoff.