The world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, celebrated the one-year anniversary of its non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace last week by announcing that it signed a multi-year deal with Portugal and Manchester United soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo, considered by many as the best active player in the game.
Binance hasn’t released many details, other than that the first collection will drop “later this year” and will be available exclusively on Binance NFT.
“My relationship with the fans is very important to me, so the idea of bringing unprecedented experiences and access through this NFT platform is something that I wanted to be a part of,” said Ronaldo, who is single-name-famous in most of the world, as a quick Google check will confirm.
What is not clear is what kind of access or experiences that would involve, but it does suggest that the NFTs may offer something more than just pictures or video. Some celebrities offer real access — Bill Murray, for example, announced an NFT line last week that includes not only original stories, but access to at least two events per year where he will meet and greet owners of the tokens bearing his stylized likeness.
See also: NFT Weekly: Shopify Launches ‘Tokengated Commerce’; Bill Murray Does His Thing
Eminem and Snoop Dogg …
Bored Ape NFT owners Eminem and Snoop Dogg have taken their respective cartoon ape NFTs into the recording studio and come back out with a music video featuring animated versions.
Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) avatars are one of the hottest NFT collections around, and even when broader NFT prices are doing about as well as the rest of the collapsing crypto market, the 60% drop in BAYC collectables still left them selling for six figures.
One of the reasons BAYC did so well — other than celebrity owners like Eminem and metaverse maestro Snoop Dogg showing them off — is that they were sold with full commercial use licenses, unlike many other NFT collections.
Read more: Seth Green’s Kidnapped Bored Ape Shows NFTs’ Growing Commercialization
Seth Green recently had work on a new television show starring a Bored Ape bartender in an otherwise live-action ensemble halted after his BAYC NFT was stolen, forcing him to buy it back for $300,000 — well over what he paid for it in the first place.
And this week, BAYC-themed L.A. restaurant Bored & Hungry reportedly stopped accepting crypto in payment for food. Its owner told Investing.com that despite the décor — which cost him $330,000 in Bored Apes — few customers cared about the ability to pay with digital assets.
Related: LA Restaurant Themed on Bored Ape NFT No Longer Accepts Crypto
… And M&Ms (No Relation)
In news completely unrelated to the musician, candymaker Mars recently filed NFT trademarks for its M&M brand.
While many brands are doing that largely to be proactive about protecting their assets, the extensive use of cartoon M&M characters in the candy-shelled chocolates over the years suggests it may be a more active participant in the metaverse marketing community.
See also: Mars Wants to Turn M&Ms into NFTs
EU May Punt NFT regulation
The European Union is set to dive down into the place NFTs should or should not have in the broad crypto regulation law, Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA), that is expected to pass soon.
NFTs were not as big an issue when work began on MiCA, and they were left out of original drafts of the legislation. However, with the hype around the one-of-a-kind tokens — and incidents of thefts and scams growing — a move to insert controls, such as a requirement that NFT marketplaces be required to register, has grown.
Read more: EU Lawmakers to Discuss Fate of NFT, Private Wallets in Crypto Regulation
But with pressure to pass MiCA growing, and a few tougher and more important issues involving things like anti-money laundering (AML) regulations still to be resolved, saving both NFTs and decentralized finance (DeFi) for a MiCA 2 is gaining support from the likes of the European Central Bank’s president, Christine LaGarde.
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