A set of nonfungible tokens will be issued by the United States’ leading trading card maker Topps in partnership with Major League Baseball and MLB Players Inc. Topps’ flagship annual baseball card collection, now to circulate in NFT form, reflects the company’s pivot toward a digital transition and awareness of the growing and significant appeal of blockchain-based collectibles. To help bridge between the traditional and digital worlds of collectors, artwork from the physical versions of this year’s Topps Series 1 baseball release will be reimagined and enhanced for the officially licensed Topps MLB NFT set. A range of cards of …

Six-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady is backing a new major development in the nonfungible token industry by launching his own NFT platform. The new NFT platform, dubbed Autograph, will target some of the biggest figures in sports, entertainment, fashion and pop culture, and provide a tool for unique digital collectibles, a Brady representative told CNN on Tuesday. The platform is expected to launch this spring. Autograph CEO Dillon Rosenblatt said that the platform will bring together “some of the world’s most iconic names and brands with best in class digital artists” in order to create and launch NFT pieces …

Blockchain-based sports platform Chiliz has sealed an investment of an undisclosed amount from Chicago-based trading firm Jump Trading LCC. Jump Trading — a proprietary trading firm founded 20 years ago by Chicago futures pits veterans Bill DiSomma and Paul Gurinas — has been engaged for some time in the cryptocurrency space, alongside its wider activities in global futures, options and equities markets. The firm specializes in algorithmic and high-frequency trading strategies and has reportedly been market making for Chiliz’s tokens since early 2021. Chiliz’s year so far has been a bullish one, with its native token, CHZ, hitting all-time highs …

Playboy centerfolds will be sold as nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, after the classic men’s magazine announced a partnership with Nifty Gateway on Tuesday. The entertainment and lifestyle brand — famous for its Playboy Bunnies, distinctive logo and the dubious claim that men “only read it for the articles” — is planning to tokenize its art, cartoon and photography archive built up over 67 years, as well as release new original artworks. In a Tuesday announcement, the brand did not reveal specific details for its NFT drops on Nifty, but it did state its plans to “support emerging and underrepresented artists …

Topps, one of the world's premier trading card manufacturers, recently announced its intention to pursue a public offering following an explosion in the digital market. In an interview with CNBC’s Squawk Box on Tuesday, Topps chairman Michael Eisner said the sports and entertainment side of the business (the company also produces confections like gum) is 25% digital and growing. Eisner said the explosion of nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, on blockchains will “likely appeal to everybody” as the firm goes public. “The digital [side of the business] is growing really fast,” said Eisner: “With blockchain, we’re going to be able to …

Musician Adel Tesfaye, better known as The Weeknd, is set to release his first nonfungible token, or NFT, via Nifty Gateway on Saturday. He follows in the footsteps of other musicians such as Kings of Leon, Grimes, Rico Nasty and Ja Rule who recognize the ability of NFTs to put the power (and the dollars) back into the hands of artists. Excited to announce that my first NFT drop is taking place on Saturday at 2:00 pm EST on @niftygateway. The collection will feature new music and limited edition art. I developed the artwork with Strange Loop Studios pic.twitter.com/627BO4JekK — …

Major League Baseball team Oakland Athletics has sold their first crypto-purchased season ticket less than three weeks after first offering them. The Oakland A’s, as they’re colloquially called, introduced an offer on March 15 enabling fans to purchase suite tickets with Bitcoin. On Wednesday, March 31, the San Francisco East Bay ballclub announced that the buyer was New York-based publicly traded crypto asset platform Voyager Digital Ltd. The fintech firm purchased a six-person suite for all of the team’s 2021 home games for the price of one Bitcoin, or approximately $58,500 on the day. It’s happening: #Bitcoin in baseball. @investvoyager …

Dave Kaval, president of Major League Baseball’s Oakland Athletics, says the ball club will be HODLing any Bitcoin that fans pay for luxury seats at the team ballpark in the San Francisco Bay Area. In an interview with Bloomberg on Friday, Kaval said no baseball fans had yet taken advantage of the opportunity to buy a full season, six-person suite for the home season for 1 Bitcoin (BTC) since the deal was first announced on March 15. Though the A’s club president said he was still hopeful “two or three” people will buy tickets for the ten suites available, he …

FTX has reached an agreement with Miami-Dade County on a 19-year partnership worth $135 million, to name Miami Heat’s home stadium the FTX Arena. The cryptocurrency derivatives exchange backed by Alameda Research, is set to become the first member of the crypto industry to secure NBA naming rights, pending approval from the Miami-Dade County Board of County Commissioners on March 26. The deal marks a significant mainstream partnership for a crypto-based platform, which will see FTX tied to the Miami Heat until 2040. As part of the Miami-Dade County’s press release on March 23, FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried noted: “This …

In an announcement on Tuesday, cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com will be launching a nonfungible token, or NFT, platform on Friday, featuring content from major artists, athletes and musicians. Anyone — not just Crypto.com users — will be able to buy, trade and resell NFTs featuring work from Snoop Dogg, Boy George, Klarens Malluta and Lionel Richie, Mr. Brainwash, Opus, BossLogic, Axel Mansoor, KCamp, Kloud, the Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team and others. Some of the work will drop in concert with the platform’s launch this Friday. Users will be allowed to pay with over 20 cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin (BTC), Ether …

Cristiano Ronaldo became the first soccer player to be rewarded for his career achievements in cryptocurrency, after the Juventus F.C. star received 770 JUV tokens — one for each senior career goal scored, as reported by Spanish outlet Marca. JUV is the official Juventus fan token, launched in 2019 by the Italian football club on the Chiliz (CHZ) blockchain, in conjunction with the Socios.com platform. Fan tokens give club supporters the chance to vote on club decisions, while giving them access to various perks, competitions and prizes. The bounty of 770 JUV tokens — awarded to Ronaldo prior to Sunday’s …

Major English football club Manchester City is the latest sports club to launch its own blockchain-based token to power new tools for digital fan engagement. According to an official announcement Friday, Manchester City has partnered with fan engagement platform Socios.com to launch the CITY fan token on the Chiliz blockchain. Similar to other European clubs like FC Barcelona and Juventus, Manchester City will now have an option to provide VIP rewards, club promotions, games, AR-enabled features and polls using its fan token. Stephan Cieplik, senior vice president of global partnerships sales at City Football Group, the parent company of Manchester …