In a first for Australian cricket, BlockTrust has signed an official licensing deal with Cricket Australia and the Australian Cricketers’ Association, together with Rario, to connect over 1 billion cricket fans globally with NFTs. This will eventually see digital collectible NFTs (non-fungible tokens) from Australian cricket, and play-to-earn virtual gaming made accessible to over one billion cricket fans globally.
Using eco-friendly blockchain technology, the multi-year exclusive CA/ACA partnership will introduce NFTs to cricket fans, creating a new fan engagement tool that celebrates the rich history of Australian cricket. The partnership will support the game’s growth and support past and present players through their historic achievements being featured in NFT moments.
Mike Alexander, Co-Founder, and CEO of BlockTrust, said, “We are very excited to team up with Rario, Cricket Australia, and the Australian Cricketers’ Association to establish Australia’s first Sports metaverse designed for the Australian cricket community. BlockTrust has quickly established itself as a leader in developing bespoke NFT marketplaces and web3 experiences, assisting a range of brands and organizations globally to develop and tokenize physical and digital assets.”
“BlockTrust is at the forefront of sports innovation and fan engagement. The team has tremendous industry experience and experience to help brands and organizations compliantly make the jump to web3,” Blockchain Founders Fund Managing Partner Aly Madhavji commented.
Nick Hockley, CEO of Cricket Australia, also gave his statement regarding the partnership. “We are excited to step into the metaverse with our partners Rario, BlockTrust, and the Australian Cricketers’ Association for this historic deal, opening huge opportunities for innovation and fan engagement.”
The engagement possibilities are vast, from providing collectibles that introduce fans to the history of the game, gaming experiences that allow collectors to play games against each other around the world (of which over 100 million cricket fans already do), to trading card sets that act as visual coaching tools for children starting in the game.
BlockTrust and Rario have led a consortium of leading ecosystem partners in successfully procuring this project, including ConsenSys and Amazon Web Services. Further announcements on NFT releases and player partnerships will be made in the coming months.