Tom Brady Turning to NFTs, Fitness and Apparel Businesses After NFL Retirement

By Kate Irwin

After a successful NFL career spanning 22 seasons and seven Superbowl wins, Tom Brady has announced he is retiring from football at age 44. Going forward, he plans to focus on his family, his NFT business Autograph, his clothing line Brady Brand, and his fitness equipment brand TB12 Sports.

“I have loved my NFL career, and now it is time to focus my time and energy on other things that require my attention,” Brady wrote in the Instagram post, which was also cross-posted to his Twitter page. 

NFTs have been all the rage lately. They’re unique tokens that exist on blockchain networks like Ethereum or Solana. NFTs prove the token holder’s ownership over digital assets like images, videos, event tickets, or even songs. NFTs exploded in popularity last year—in 2021, 28.6 million wallets traded NFTs. This is a massive spike from the 545,000 wallets that engaged in the NFT space in 2020. NFT sales overall went from about $95 million in 2020 to nearly $25 billion the following year. 

Brady has been in the crypto and NFT space since at least April 2021, when he co-founded his NFT platform Autograph along with former Apple executive Dillon Rosenblatt and media executive Richard Rosenblatt. Also on Autograph’s board of directors is Apple SVP Eddy Cue and FTX exchange CEO Sam Bankman-Fried. 

Just a few weeks ago, Brady’s NFT startup Autograph raised $170 million in its Series B funding round. So far, it’s launched NFTs in partnerships with athletes Tiger Woods, Simone Biles, Wayne Gretzsky, Usain Bolt, Tony Hawk, Derek Jeter and more. Autograph has also released NFTs for some top musical talent, such as Canadian artist The Weeknd.

Besides NFTs, Brady is also a self-described “big believer” in cryptocurrency. Back in May 2021, he changed his Twitter profile picture to an image of himself with Bitcoin laser eyes and has kept it ever since. 

Last year, Brady invested in cryptocurrency exchange FTX, committing to an equity stake in the company. He emphasized the importance of “educating people about the power of crypto while simultaneously giving back to our communities and planet.”

Now, it looks like Brady will have a lot more time to do just that.

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