Technical foul: Chinese traders in online sneaker market punish NBA after Hong Kong controversy


By Yawen ChenRyan Woo

A pair of Nike's Air Force sneakers with a NBA logo is seen display at a Nike store in Beijing, China October 10, 2019. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang/Files

BEIJING (Reuters) - On Oct. 4, a Chinese trader noticed a sharp drop in the price of crypto tokens backed by Nike's Air Jordan sneakers on a U.S.-based exchange after the general manager of the NBA's Houston Rockets tweeted support for the protests in Hong Kong.

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.

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