As Bitcoin (BTC) prepares to undergo a block reward halving next month, at least one prominent figure in the sports world is doing his part to promote the event. Ben Askren, former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) fighter and well-known Bitcoin bull, has changed the display name on his Twitter account to “Bitcoin Halving May 13”. Askren has more than 311,000 followers. Source: Twitter The name and date are referring to the official halving event happening in just over 36 days. When the total blocks in the BTC network reach 630,000, the ‘halving’ will reduce the block reward from 12.5 BTC …

The 2020 Chess Candidates Tournament in Ekaterinburg, Russia has been postponed due to the coronavirus, but organizers are already looking to the future and how blockchain can give the sport a boost. The tournament pitted eight grandmasters against each other for the right to take on world champion Magnus Carlsen, but had to be halted after seven rounds when news emerged Russia was about to suspend international flights indefinitely. World Chess told Cointelegraph it was examining moving matches online and introducing blockchain technology. Opportunity for chess Ilya Merenzon, CEO of World Chess, the company that organized the last world championship …

Crypto-based lending and borrowing platform Cred is partnering with professional basketball player and entrepreneur Spencer Dinwiddie. A special page has been launched since March 20 for Dinwiddie’s fans to use Cred. The platform lets users earn interest on stablecoins and other crypto assets, with the company advertising a 10% annual interest rate. Lending is also possible by collateralizing the user’s crypto assets. The partnership targets Dinwiddie’s fans to let them earn interest on their stablecoins. Commenting on the announcement, he said: “This partnership comes at a critical time, where I can educate my fans on the power of cryptocurrencies and …

André Figer, vice president of one of the largest sporting career management companies in Brazil, has his eyes firmly set on tokenizing soccer players. The well-known entrepreneur told Cointelegraph Brazil that blockchain technology and athlete tokenization has the potential to transform the management of sport worldwide. The Figer Group has been involved in many significant moves in the soccer world, including the move by midfielder Giovanni to Barcelona, the purchase of Robinho by Real Madrid as well as the midfielder Júnior Urso for Guangzhou R&F of China. Tokenization can support younger players Figer said he is supporting the launch of …

Ethereum-based sports tokenization platform Chiliz (CHZ) has partnered with blockchain platform Chainlink to allow for real-time nonfungible token creation. According to a March 4 announcement from Chiliz, the platform plans to leverage Chainlink’s capacity to trigger the execution of smart contracts based on real-world data and events. This feature will allow the minting of NFTs for partners in real-time, based on data securely provided by Chainlink’s network. This integration will allow Chiliz to create NFTs that react to the real world and mint limited edition collectibles to commemorate real-time events. The company explains that, for instance, it would be possible …

The new decade has kicked off with blockchain technology finally being utilized in real case scenarios in the world of sports. Many blockchain proponents are enthusiastic about the wide variety of potential use cases, but real-life working examples are often hard to come by. The potential of the technology to underpin a variety of systems within the sports sector has long been discussed, but just two months into the new year, there have already been several prominent use cases where blockchain technology is being used to improve offerings to fans. From the football-mad continent of Europe to the world of …

Cooperation between fiat currency card issuers and the blockchain industry appears to be proceeding apace. On Feb. 24, sports fan token project Socios announced the launch of an integrated membership and fiat-crypto prepaid debit card, which also provides blockchain-based global ID functionality. Ahead of the product’s launch, Socios says it is continuing to review several crypto and non-crypto partners before determining who the card issuer will be. Speaking to Cointelegraph, Socios CEO Alexandre Dreyfus said the firm had previously been contacted by and been engaging with partner firms of Visa and MasterCard. Live debit card planned for summer As previously …

Cointelegraph was on the ground for NFT NYC, event taking place a couple of hundred feet from Times Square dedicated to non-fungible tokens. While most of the companies at NFT NYC are early-stage startups still looking for their users, two attending organizations have hundreds of millions of fans around the world. Adrienne O'Keeffe, associate vice president of partnerships at the NBA, and Sophie Gage, counsel at the NFL Player’s Association, joined a panel to discuss the value of blockchain technology for big brands. Cointelegraph scored an exclusive interview after their public discussion. NFTs will create greater fan engagement “This is …

The Italian soccer team Juventus has a number of traditional collectibles available for purchase by its fans, but this week it’s taking them into the digital age. The sports club announced on Feb 19. it would be offering digital trading cards of its players through the blockchain-enabled platform Sorare. By using Ethereum technology, Sorare will provide digital cards that soccer fans can collect and trade. The cards function like non-fungible tokens and will feature star players like forward Cristiano Ronaldo. Used in conjunction with the platform’s fantasy soccer game, the cards can be used to create teams, compete in tournaments …

Soccer fans in Europe will join the ranks of early blockchain adopters thanks to a new initiative by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). According to a Feb. 17 announcement, UEFA will distribute over one million soccer match tickets via a blockchain-enabled mobile application. The organization claims that this new ticketing system will make “entry into the stadium smooth, safe and secure.” The new blockchain-based mobile ticketing solution is meant to prevent the duplication and replication of tickets by “QR codes only being activated by Bluetooth once fans are in close proximity to the stadium.” The app will be …

American sports fans could soon be using blockchain-based tokens to interact with their favorite teams. Blockchain sports firm Chiliz has partnered with major marketing agency Lagardere Sports and Entertainment, according to a press release on Feb. 17. Chiliz CEO Alex Dreyfus told Cointelegraph that — as part of the partnership — Lagardere’s sales team will present Chiliz and its blockchain-based fan interaction system Socios to new sports teams, leagues and sports federations. Dreyfus explained that, since Lagardere has a major presence in the United States, it will help expose Chiliz and Socios to teams in major sports leagues such as …

It seemed nobody cared about AR until Pokémon Go launched in 2016. All of the sudden, every headline was about how augmented reality could change the world. Sophisticated technologies like AR, virtual reality, and artificial intelligence need their own "Pokémon Go moment" to appeal to a mainstream audience. The tokenization of the assets is one such concept, and sports fans might be the first to get some hands-on experience with it. As Cointelegraph's Gareth Jenkinson noted in his analysis, "sports fans are notoriously passionate about the teams they support, and there is a massive market for everything from tickets to …