Sports and Cryptocurrency News: Week of January 16-23, 2022

Dapper Labs continues to roll out the latest products, Tom Brady’s NFT platform, Serena Williams joining Sorare, and a ton of esports and crypto news from the last 7 days compiled.

Sports and Crypto News: UFC and Dapper Labs launch NFT

UFC Strike, the latest launch platform from leading esports NFT company Dapper Labs and its blockchain, is set to go live today as the company begins aggressive marketing efforts ahead of launch this week.

The UFC is no stranger to NFTs as fighters have published their own and are looking for left and right blockchain partners. The league also previously signed a massive multi-year deal with crypto exchange Crypto.com and launched its own tournament fan token.

Dapper Labs’ move is the latest in a string of major esports events, including the launch of their NFL product, NFL All Day.

Sports and Crypto News: Serena Williams joins Sorare as Board Advisor

Tennis legend Serena Williams joins the NFT Sorare platform as an advisor to the company’s board of directors. Sorare has an imaginative approach to sports NFT and is the dominant player in the NFT market when it comes to European football. Sorare has also recently attempted to build beyond that market. In a press release, GOAT Tennis said Sorare “understands the athlete-fan relationship(s) like no one else in this category, and I believe Sorare will establish a culture and tone of the future of sports entertainment.”

A holder of 23 Grand Slam singles, Williams has been the dominant athlete in the sport for more than two decades.

Sports and Crypto News: Autograph Closes Latest Fundraiser With $170M Secured

Tom Brady’s Autograph this week announced a funding round raising $170 million in Series B from companies including a16z, Kleiner Perkins and other notable companies. Brady has been a notable crypto advocate lately, partnering with FTX and just launching Autograph last year. The autograph platform has signed deals with Lionsgate, DraftKings and Slam Magazine – as well as some of the most prominent athletes in Gambit sports leagues. Additionally, Autograph has notable board members including FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried, Apple’s Eddy Cue and The Weeknd’s Abel Tesfaye.

Autograph is arguably the clear leader in athlete-centric NFTs, which have been explored by many others, but not yet to this extent. Tiger Woods, Naomi Osaka, Simone Biles and many others attended Autographs NFTs, which often sell out quickly – leading to stacked deals for indoor and outdoor Autographs. The platform is only 6 months old but seems to be on the way to strong growth in the future.

While the crypto market took a major hit earlier in the year, Dapper Lab’s blockchain token FLOW is no exception. FLOW supports Dapper’s more centralized NFT marketplaces, which are powerful, user-friendly and IP-based. | Source: FLOW-USD on TradingView.com

Sports and Crypto News: StockX Adds NFT

Hypebeast and sportswear resale platform StockX is entering the NFT market and adding new features to their website to integrate NFT with real assets. We’ve seen brands like Adidas and Nike get into this space, and fashion brands are no strangers to it – while resale stores like eBay have also tried to explore the NFT before. There seems to be a lot of interest and experimentation in these categories.

Sports and Cryptocurrency News: Esports Partnership with Bitstamp

The Esports Guild issued a press release this week announcing a new official crypto exchange partner at Bitstamp, which has paid out over $6 million under a three-year deal. Bitstamp will have shirt rights, digital and social content integration and other marketing assets to increase brand visibility.

Guild Esports is co-owned by former pro player David Beckham and is publicly traded on the OTC market while being based in the UK.

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