See, just a few years back, we all saw and heard about that NFT scene, right? Like, everyone was talking about it, and some people were totally on it while others were just straight up questioning the legitimacy of it all. And that was the time when NBA Top Shot came into the picture and became a hit, you know, a platform where you can quite literally buy and sell short NBA highlight clips. The concept was good in many people’s opinion, but it couldn’t last long, and the company had to face not just one but two lawsuits. Though now, in late 2025, things have settled down, and we’re already talking about the NBA Top Shot Settlement. So let’s just get to the details of it all.
Exactly What Is the NBA Top Shot?
It could be that you’re hearing of it for the very first time, so just to get the basics out of the way, see, NBA Top Shot is a platform created by Dapper Labs in partnership with the NBA and NBPA. And in case you don’t know how it works, well, the users can have unique NBA highlight clips as NFTs on the Flow blockchain, which is a blockchain made by Dapper Labs, via NBA Top Shot. Plain and simple!
And during that NFT boom back in 2021, no doubt, these digital Moments went up in value. Like, quite literally, there were people who were willing to spend a few thousand dollars on a single clip, and you know, they expected it to keep on increasing in value just like that down the line. This is where the regulations started to hit back this whole scene to reality.
Where the Trouble Started
Actually, back when the NFT boom was going on, that is precisely when Dapper Labs saw this lawsuit being filed against them. And why exactly? Oh, the accusation revolved around Moments being, in essence, securities and thus they ought to have been registered formally. As Dapper Labs had authority over the blockchain, the marketplace, and the whole platform, the contention was that the worth of each Moment was the one that was most dependent on Dapper Labs functioning as a company. And just so you know, as per the regulations set in this space, a company can’t simply keep on doing that.
And that wasn’t it, though; there was another court case regarding the privacy of users. Like, a few users out there claimed that their private data was not properly secured.
The $4 Million Securities Settlement
Without stretching it way too much, see, after a protracted legal fight, Dapper Labs ended the securities class action suit by a 2024 settlement of $4 million. They did not concede fault in any way; just keep that in mind. They didn’t want to just keep on fighting this legal battle in court, so they went down the path to settle it, once and for all.
The $7.05 Million Privacy Settlement
And then, of course, since we’re talking about it now, yes, the privacy case tied to 2025 also came to a settlement. Again, this time as well, Dapper Labs didn’t admit that they were in the wrong, and this time, in the ruling, they consented to pay about $7.05 million in damages.
What The Community Thought
Without a single doubt in the fact that Top Shot community reactions were all over the place when both settlements were made public. Like, those in support were really glad that the platforms is finally ready to move on from all this legal drama. Though some other users out there strongly think that the hype around the project is going down or pretty much dead at this point.