NFTs in sports: are they good for athletes’ careers?
With Cristiano Ronaldo facing a $1 billion lawsuit for promoting Binance NFTs, we look closely at how sports personalities have interacted with NFTs. Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have come a long way from when Quantum was minted in 2014, growing from assets initially exclusively linked to virtual currencies to tokens influenced by what we see in real life, like films, toys, and games. However, one of the areas where these tokens have stood out is in sports. Breaking into the bigger picture as memorabilia and collectibles, sport NFTs were first introduced in early 2021 when renowned NFL superstar Rob Gronkowski dropped a collection of Super Bowl Cards. In 2023, there were multiple notable releases of sports NFTs, highlighting the increasing popularity of fantasy sports NFT platforms. According to the METAV.RS’s NFT market 2021-2023 report, about 35% of e- sports enthusiasts expressed their interest in collecting NFTs for enjoyment or potential financial gains, while an additio...