Cristiano Ronaldo Partners With Binance to Launch NFT Collection
Cristiano Ronaldo, the Portuguese football superstar and 5-times Ballon d’Or winner, partners up with Binance, the largest centralized exchange (CEX) in the world by market volume, to launch his first Non-Fungible Token (NFT) collection.
CR7 First NFT Collection Will Be Available From November 18
One of the best football players of all time and the largest CEX in the world came together to launch Cristiano’s first-ever NFT collection, which will drop on November 18. This is the first collection of an exclusive, multi-year deal, as future collections of Cristiano Ronaldo NFTs are planned to go public in early 2023.
Binance Co-Founder and Chief Marketing Officer, He Yi, commented on the impact that this partnership with Cristiano Ronaldo can have on people’s perception of web3:
“We are honored to collaborate with Cristiano to help more people understand blockchain and showcase how we are building Web3 infrastructure for the sports and entertainment industry.”
Cristiano Ronaldo, who is one of the most-followed celebrities on social media, said that this collection is a memorable and unique way of rewarding his fans for all the support throughout the years, and to whom the star player attributes a big chunk of his success.
More Details on the NFT Collection
On November 18, at 9 am UTC, the first Cristiano Ronaldo NFT collection will go public. The available NFTs will display seven animated statues recreating iconic moments from the Portuguese’s life, including his bicycle kick goal to Juventus with Real Madrid and his childhood in his hometown Madeira. The NFTs will be divided into four rarity levels – Super Super Rare (SSR), Super Rare (SR), Rare (R), and Normal (N).
Only 5 SSR and 40 SR will be available for grabs in an auction on the Binance NFT marketplace. This auction will only remain open for 24 hours and the floor prices will start at 10,000 BUSD (Binance stablecoin, issued by Paxos) for SSR NFTs, and 1,700 BUSD for SR NFTs. Another 6,600 NFTs (600 R and 6,000 N) will be available on Binance from 77 BUSD.
Depending on the rarity of each NFT, NFT-holders will have access to different rewards and activities: a personal message from Cristiano Ronaldo, autographed CR7 and Binance merchandise, guaranteed access to all future CR7 NFT collections, complimentary CR7 mystery boxes, and access to giveaways of signed merchandise and prizes.
The first new 1,5 million users who sign up to Binance with the referral ID RONALDO and complete the required KYC will be awarded a CR7 mystery box, which may include limited-edition Cristiano Ronaldo NFTs.
Sports Stars Venture Into NFTs
The Portuguese star is not the first sports star to venture into NFTs and issue an exclusive collection by partnering up with a web3 native company – but it’s probably the brightest. Cristiano’s biggest rival and also superstar Lionel Messi recently bagged a deal as the global brand ambassador for Sorare, the fantasy sports NFT game.
Another superstar that will soon be venturing into web3 and the metaverse, albeit from a different sport, is Stephen Curry. The basketball superstar made the news recently after filing a trademark in the United States Patent and Trademark Office for the Curryverse, his own version of the metaverse.
