🔊 Blockchain Verified Goal Balls? ⚽

GM. Welcome to The Hype Report where we break down the latest news, stories & happenings around sports & web3.

Here's What You Need To Know This Week 📝 

• Serie A & Socios Offers Blockchain-Verified ‘Goal Balls’ To Fan Token Owners

• Better Fan Reveals Web3-Based Sports-Betting Platform

• NFL Tight End Joins BAYC (Bored Ape Yacth Club)

• Quick Hits, Post Of The Week & More Hype

Let's Dive Into It 🤿

Serie A & Socios Offers Blockchain-Verified ‘Goal Balls’ To Fan Token Owners ⚽

This past Wednesday, Serie A, one of the top football leagues in the world, gave holders of Socios fan tokens the chance to win blockchain-authenticated ‘goal balls’ from the Supercoppa Italiana matchup between AC Milan and Inter Milan.

The balls are a part of Socios’ newly launched Collectibles platform, which offers real-life items and memorabilia.

Socios' parent company Chiliz also launched GameUsed earlier this year, which powered this initiative.

GameUsed is an end-to-end authentication service for sports memorabilia.

The match balls used to score goals were verified on Socios’ GameUsed website and embedded with near-field communication (NFC) chip.

The GameUsed NFC chip allows any smartphone to verify the item and users to watch the goal that was scored with the ball at any point in time.

The ‘goal balls’ were only available to Inter and AC Milan token holders on Socios’ online platform via a reverse auction.

Inter Milan won the match 3-0 vs AC Milan.

Serie A initially partnered with the fan engagement platform last year and also has partnerships with both Lega Serie A and several Italian top clubs to offer fan tokens.

Overall there are more than 180 major sports organizations using the Socios app, with fans using Fan Tokens to vote in polls, play games, show their support, and earn rewards, including VIP tickets, digital collectibles, real collectibles, and unforgettable experiences.

Better Fan Reveals Web3-Based Sports-Betting Platform 🎰

Better Fan just unveiled their innovative sports-betting platform that combines Web3-based infrastructure and the “play-to-earn” (P2E) concept.

As the world’s first Web3-based gamified betting platform, they aim to introduce the idea of legal, ethical, and sustainable betting to the global sports-betting market.

CEO Metin Durgun emphasizes the platform’s “closed economy” model:

"Better Fan’s gamified platform promises to revolutionize the world of sports betting. It gamifies the sports-betting ecosystem, thus reducing gamers’ potential losses by letting them place bets without using fiat currencies or crypto. On Web2-based platforms, people use real money to place their bets. But if they lose, their entire stake will be lost.”

Since Better Fan users don't stake anything of value, they can only lose their daily bets – which are renewed every 24 hours.

Each user's NFT-based Fan cards determine bet amounts and daily betting limits.

Users can upgrade these NFTs, thereby increasing their card rates.

If their bets are successful, then users are rewarded with Better Fan’s BTB (Better Than Bet) utility tokens.

These tokens can then be used for in-game activities, and users can exchange them for USDT (an asset-backed cryptocurrency stablecoin) directly in-game.

Research suggests that the global sports-betting market will grow by almost 12% annually, reaching a total value of $178 billion by 2030.

That sounds like a lot of upside for the platform to me.

This Newsletter Is Brought To You By Zebu Live

PSA: We're excited to announce we are partnering with London's leading Web3 conference Zebu Live which takes place October 4th-5th 2023.

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During the 2-day event, there will be panels, entertainment, and ofcourse a whole lot of networking.

Also, some of the biggest blockchain and web3 companies will be in attendance, so if you're in town you won't want to miss it.

And ofcourse, you know we had to throw in an exclusive deal for you.

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Fun fact: In case you were wondering... Zebu stands for “zero bullshit” and “always bullish” (look up the animal “Zebu” on Google).

NFL Tight End Eric Ebron Purchases A Bored Ape NFT 🏈

NFL player, Eric Ebron has been making moves off the football field as he nurses his knee injury.

This week the web3 enthusiast purchased his first Bored Ape.

Following the purchase, he changed his Twitter profile photo to reflect Bored Ape #6425.

While this is Ebron's first Bored Ape purchase, the NFL player is no stranger to the NFT community.

Ebron has also owned two Mutant Apes over the last year; he currently holds Mutant Ape #4347.

He's been an avid collector for the past couple of years and has appeared on a number of podcasts proclaiming his passion for the space.

BAYC is one of the most successful NFT projects ever created and their community includes a number of celebrities and high-profile individuals.

Check out Ebron's full NFT collection.

Quick Hits 🎯

Esports and lifestyle brand FaZe Clan has announced a multi-year partnership with luxury automaker Porsche. In 2023, the deal will focus on original content, esports initiatives, physical products, and Web3-focused digital goods.

Shaquille O’Neal, Larry Fitzgerald, and David Blitzer are among the investors in Courtside Ventures’ new $100 million Fund III focused on sports, collectibles, wellness, and gaming.

Sports & entertainment investor launches web3 studio in Atlanta to create a new path for underrepresented founders.

SimWin Sports, the world's first virtual sports league that provides daily fantasy players and esports fans with the ability to watch, predict, collect, play, and earn, announced a multi-year, strategic partnership with Sports Illustrated.

Post Of The Week 💬

Couldn't have said this any better.

Web3 is about putting the community first and building better solutions that propel creators, users, and participants further.

Let's keep playing the long game.

More Hype 📹

This week, the NBA landed in Paris for their 2023 Paris Game showcase between the Chicago Bulls and Detroit Pistons.

As it relates to the web3 world, Sorare, the leading NFT fantasy sports game, hosted a panel interview at their HQ between Founder Nicolas Julia, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, and NBPA Executive Director Tameka Tremaglio.

Here's some of what they discussed:

• The importance of the NBA x Sorare x NBPA partnership

• Soccer is bigger than basketball, but the NBA working to close that gap by leveraging digital collectibles

• The players as entrepreneurs and individuals in tech and any other areas they choose

Check out the full interview below.

Signing out for today. Thank you for reading!

I'll check back in again next Sunday.

Malcolm

This newsletter is for informational purposes only and is not financial or business advice in any capacity. The information shared is my thoughts & opinions and does not represent the opinions of any other person, business, entity, or sponsor.

The contents of this newsletter also should not be used in any public or private domain without the author's express permission. The contents of this newsletter should not be used for any commercial activity, for example, research report, consultancy activity, or paywalled article, without the author's express permission.