Full catalog migration, not just a test
NBA Top Shot has completed a massive infrastructure shift that places its entire catalog of digital collectibles on the InterPlanetary File System, or IPFS. This means every Moment on the platform, including the video highlight, thumbnail, and metadata, now lives on decentralized storage. Collectors can now verify what they own without needing an account or asking for permission from anyone.
This change is significant because digital collectibles have traditionally relied on a simple promise: trust the company that keeps the files. But that promise has broken before when platforms shut down and left NFTs pointing to empty servers. NBA Top Shot, built by Dapper Labs on the Flow blockchain, is trying to close that gap by giving verification power back to the owner.
The migration covers the entire NBA Top Shot portfolio. Every edition ever minted, across all series, has been moved to IPFS. This is not a partial rollout or a pilot program. It is complete and live. Going forward, every new Moment will have its media anchored to IPFS from the moment it is minted. So when a collector opens a pack, the highlight inside is permanently tied to a decentralized record.
The preserved assets include the video highlight, the thumbnail image, and the play metadata. Assets are stored at the set level, meaning all Moments within the same set share the same underlying media on the decentralized network. Whether a collector holds serial number 1 or serial number 1,000, the video and artwork are identical.
Independent authentication without central authority
Here is the key difference from a standard upgrade: owners can now authenticate their Moments without an account, without contacting Dapper Labs, and without any central authority. Anyone with an internet connection can verify any Moment on the platform.
According to Dapper Labs, this makes NBA Top Shot the only sports collectible that an owner can independently authenticate end to end with nothing more than internet access. The main tool for this is the IPFS Reference App, which links a collector’s Moment to its decentralized media record. The app maps every NBA Top Shot play to its IPFS content, allowing anyone to look up a Moment, retrieve the stored assets from the decentralized network, and confirm they are genuine. No login is required. No permission is required either.
Collectors can also use any public IPFS gateway, like ipfs.io or dweb.link, or run their own IPFS node to retrieve and verify content outside Dapper Labs’ infrastructure. Dapper Labs plans to embed IPFS content hashes, known as CIDs, directly into the on-chain edition metadata on Flow. That would create a fully autonomous link between every Moment and its media, readable directly from the blockchain without an intermediary app. That work is underway, though no timeline has been provided.
How IPFS content-based addressing works
Most digital files on the internet live at a specific URL on a company’s server. If that company shuts down, changes the URL, or stops paying for hosting, the file can disappear. IPFS uses a different model. Instead of identifying a file by where it is stored, IPFS identifies a file by what it contains. Every file gets a unique content hash, or CID, generated from its actual data. The same file always produces the same address, no matter who hosts it. If anyone alters the file, the hash changes immediately, making tampering obvious.
This content-based approach means the file itself functions as proof. Any IPFS node can serve the file to anyone who requests it, so the content does not depend on one URL staying live or one company staying in business. For digital collectibles, that changes the ownership equation. Concerns about asset loss when platforms shut down have proved real across the broader NFT space. NBA Top Shot’s move to decentralized storage is aimed directly at that problem.
It also removes a major single point of failure. In traditional centralized storage, one server outage, one company shutdown, or one expired hosting contract can make assets inaccessible. Decentralized storage spreads that risk across a network of independent nodes. As long as at least one node is hosting a file, it remains accessible and verifiable.
Why this matters for the broader NFT space
The timing is notable. Dapper Labs made the change while other corners of the digital collectibles market were pulling back on infrastructure spending. Migrating an entire catalog to decentralized storage is a serious engineering commitment. It signals a long-term bet on collector trust as a competitive advantage.
There is also a wider message for the NFT market. One of the most persistent criticisms of digital collectibles has been that ownership claims are only as durable as the company behind them. By grounding NBA Top Shot’s media in IPFS, an open protocol no single entity controls, Dapper Labs is making that case through infrastructure rather than marketing language.
Dapper Labs has also indicated that the same decentralized architecture is being built to extend across all its products. That suggests this is not just an NBA Top Shot update but part of a broader shift in how the company approaches digital asset permanence. For collectors who stepped away over concerns about long-term viability, the IPFS Reference App offers a direct answer. Open it, look up a Moment, and verify it without trusting anyone in the process.
