October 20
Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar has made a strategic investment in Dream11-backed cricket NFT platform Rario. As part of this partnership, fans will now have access to Tendulkar’s digital collectibles exclusively on Rario.com.
Many cricketers are already exclusively present on Rario’s platform including Aaron Finch, Faf Du Plessis, Quinton de Kock, Shakib Al Hasan, Rishabh Pant, Virender Sehwag, Zaheer Khan, Smriti Mandhana, Arshdeep Singh and Axar Patel.
Surreal feeling
Commenting on the development, Rario Co-Founder and CEO, Ankit Wadhwa said, “In 1996, I saw Sachin Tendulkar live for the first time at the India-Sri Lanka World Cup match in Kotla, Delhi. The greatest player in the world had scored a run-a-ball 137 - he was the hero of a billion cricket lovers. Twenty-six years later, partnering with the Master Blaster with him investing in Rario is a surreal feeling. It is a testament to our vision of making fandom more accessible. A world where stars don’t just exist on a distant flickering screen or in a crowded stadium, and fans don’t get to be passive observers but active participants. It is only fitting that the man who once carried a billion hopes is now blessing us in our journey to redefine fandom for a billion fans. With the God of Cricket backing us, sky is the limit!”
NFT bringing fans closer to sports
Speaking on the partnership, Sachin Tendulkar said, “Fans are an integral part of any sport. While the on-field action happens for a few hours, fans carry the memories forward and immortalise those moments forever. It is exciting to see NFT technology bringing fans closer to sports, giving them an opportunity to treasure their favourite moments. The team at Rario was committed to building a cricket community using technology in a responsible way. I am therefore happy to partner with the team, to launch my digital collectibles exclusively on the Rario platform”.
NFTs are a class of digital assets that use blockchain to track asset ownership and transfer. Since its inception, the craze has spread to include all forms of art, media, fashion, and sports. NFTs are rapidly approaching the $50 billion market value of all works of art, with a market value of $40 billion.