HIGHLIGHTS
- Fan tokens and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have cropped up for almost every major game played in the world.
- Cricket NFTs will let fans collect and trade major instances from the game.
- Cricket is not played in many countries. However, it reportedly has a huge fan base of 2.5 billion.
The global sports industry is witnessing a revolution as stakeholders try to increase fan engagement through rapidly evolving technologies popular among the millennials.
Engaging with fans is no more just about meet-and-greets. Marketing professionals are exploring blockchain technology to lure fans as the COVID-19 pandemic has forced the sports industry to find new ways of generating revenues.
Fan tokens and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have cropped for in almost every major game played in the world, be it football, motorsports or basketball. Most recently, cricket NFTs began getting attention, which will allow fans to collect and trade historic moments from the gentleman's game.
To provide cricket NFTs, digital collectables platform Rario has partnered with Polygon, a framework for developing and linking blockchain systems compatible with Ethereum.
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What's next for Rario NFTs?
Cricket is not played in many countries. However, it is said to have a global fan base of 2.5 billion.
In the hopes of striking a chord with the cricket fan base, Rario could be looking to leverage the blockchain expertise of Polygon and allow its users to make quick transactions.
Along with Rario's integration, Polygon has also launched Polygon Studios, which will be a hub of NFT-centric gaming. It is reportedly backed by a funding of US$ 100 million to accelerate non-fungible token projects.
Rario is said to be the world's first licensed cricket NFT platform. It plans to work with cricket superstars like Zaheer Khan, Shakib Al Hasan, Faf Du Plesis, etc. and rising stars like Smriti Mandhana to allow fan ownership of the most iconic cricketing moments.
Ankit Wadhwa, CEO of Rario, has said that the company plans to revolutionise digital collectables space along with Polygon. The company also aims to partner with major cricketing bodies like the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and Cricket Australia (CA) to bring cricket history into the digital era.
Also Read: What are fan tokens? A 101 guide to the new cryptomania
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Bottomline
NFT is a digital artwork that claims to give an irrefutable proof of ownership to the holders of virtual collectables. Digital assets are gaining popularity and people are minting money by auctioning them.
In March this year, Twitter founder Jack Dorsey sold his first Twitter post in the form of an NFT for a value of about US$ 2.9 million.
If the trend in the NFT industry continues, it could become one of the leading digital assets of the future.