'Pawsitively adorable' Puppy Bowl NFTs are going on sale to benefit Ariana Grande's animal rescue

Puppy Bowl. Alison Yin/AP Images for Discovery Communications

• Discovery is selling 23 digital puppy collectibles ahead of its annual Puppy Bowl.
• Each collectible is a "pawsitively adorable" trading card, the cable TV giant said in a press release.
• The Puppy Bowl has aired on Super Bowl Sunday since 2005 as a way to showcase adoptable dogs.

Even puppies are getting into crypto.

In honor of this year's Puppy Bowl — the cute competition that airs annually in conjunction with the NFL's Super Bowl — Discovery Communications will be selling 23 exclusive digital collectibles known as NFTs.

Each Puppy Bowl NFT will "feature unique and pawsitively adorable trading cards varying in price and rarity," the cable TV giant said in a press release about the drop.

A portion of the proceeds from the sale will benefit an animal rescue organization called Orange Twins Rescue that was founded by singer Ariana Grande and brothers Scott and Brian Nicholson, said Discovery, the owner of the Animal Planet channel which airs the show.

An NFT, short for non-fungible token, is like a digital trading card minted on the blockchain. The market for digital collectibles soared in 2021 with one estimate showing sales topping $41 billion amid a surge of new entrants and one-off bids, like the $69 million sale of Beeple's "Everydays." 

The Puppy Bowl has been airing since 2005 as a way to showcase adoptable pups as well as the rescues and shelters that house them. For this year's Puppy Bowl XVIII, Discovery said 100 adoptable dogs from 33 states will sport their bandanas for "Team Ruff" or "Team Fluff" on February 13 at 2 p.m. ET, just hours before the Super Bowl airs.

Each week leading up to the bowls, Discovery will drop new NFTs, featuring the puppy team captains and the starting line ups. 

And no, the value of the NFTs isn't based on meme dog cryptocurrencies like dogecoin or shiba inu. On the auction site Chronicle, the NFTs are selling for anywhere from $20 to $100. The digital collectibles are based on the proof-of-stake system that has a smaller carbon footprint than the proof-of-work one.