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The trader posted about the fall - which he
told Reuters was more than 10% at the time - on Weibo, China's
equivalent of Twitter. His post went viral, attracting thousands
of comments and becoming one of the most searched items on Weibo
last week.
The trader, who declined to give his name, said such price
swings were not unusual in the speculative world of
cryptocurrencies and asset-backed tokens.
"But it's clear sneaker speculators were pulling money out of
the market" after the Chinese government and netizens responded
angrily to the comment by Houston Rockets general manager Daryl
Morey, he said.
Morey quickly deleted his tweet, but the damage was done.
Chinese state media started to attack him, the Houston Rockets
and the National Basketball Association (NBA), accusing them of
endorsing violence and peddling a "secessionist pipe dream."
Since the incident, quotes for tokens backed by the Air Jordan 1
Retro High Satin Black Toe shoes - the latest variant of the
iconic 1980s model - have fallen 34%, according to Reuters
calculations based on data from 55.com, a major global exchange
for asset-backed tokens.
In China, the trading of tokens and cryptocurrencies such as
Bitcoin is banned, but Chinese investors are active on overseas
exchanges. On 55.com, traders can exchange yuan for
cryptocurrencies such as Tether via Alipay or WeChat to acquire
tokens.
It is also possible on 55.com to trade tokens backed by other
designer merchandise such as hoodies by Supreme, a U.S. clothing
brand under the Carlyle Group.
Hong Kong-based George Gao, a sneaker brand influencer in China
with more than 38,000 followers on his YouTube channel, said the
NBA backlash among mainland basketball fans was "unprecedented."
Global brands can suffer when they offend their client base in
China, where millions of online citizens rapidly respond to
perceived cultural slights or insults to the country. For NBA,
the China market is estimated to be worth more than $4 billion.
Last week, Houston Rockets sneakers and other merchandise were
pulled from several Nike stores in major Chinese cities.
Poizon and DoNew, two Chinese mobile shopping apps popular among
fans of designer sneakers, also took NBA-logo shoes off their
platforms, traders said.
Xu Xiaotian, an avid sneaker collector in the southern city of
Guangzhou, said he would boycott "anti-China" brands and take
political concerns into consideration during his next purchase.
But he also said individual NBA players were not directly
involved in the controversy.
In June, Xu bought online a pair of Nike Air Jordan 1 Retro High
"Pass The Torch" sneakers inspired by the Los Angeles Clippers'
Kawhi Leonard. Xu paid 13,000 yuan ($1,837.85) and sold them for
33,000 yuan that month.
Xu said he would invest in NBA shoes again despite his feelings
about the NBA.
LeBron James - a star player for the Los Angeles Lakers and
widely considered to be the face of the NBA - weighed in on the
controversy on Monday, saying Morey "wasn't educated" when he
sent a tweet in support of protesters in Hong Kong.
On mobile app Sneaker Sale Calendar, a popular tool for sneaker
price comparison among Chinese collectors, the price of Nike's
LeBron 16 "MPLS" shoes rose 142% to 1,944 yuan on Wednesday from
a day earlier.
Other brands associated with the NBA, such as Nike and Adidas,
have been largely unscathed.
Gao said the price of a new pair of limited-edition Nike shoes
in collaboration with U.S. rapper Travis Scott, which made their
debut in China on Friday, surged more than fivefold to almost
8,000 yuan from 1,399 yuan in online resale markets.
"Political factors do affect my choice," said Chen Luwei, a
Chinese sneaker fan studying in Australia.
"If there is any insulting speech by Nike or Adidas, it may
affect my decision to buy their shoes," Chen said. "But I can't
just throw away my previous ones, right?"
(Reporting by Yawen Chen, Ryan Woo; Additional Reporting by
Beijing Newsroom and Se Young Lee; Editing by Gerry Doyle)
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