Singapore-based cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com has announced its strategic partnership with basketball legend LeBron James and LeBron James Family Foundation (LJFF) to help bring education and workforce development initiatives on Web3.0 to underserved individuals.
As announced by the trading platform, “the partnership will give students and families connected to the I PROMISE program access to the tools and educational resources needed to participate and succeed in building Web3, the future of the internet.” While the financial aspects of the deal were not unveiled, Crypto.com will help in advancing the scope of the LJFF program, and the number of people that are being reached.
“Blockchain technology is revolutionising our economy, sports and entertainment, the art world, and how we engage with one another. I want to ensure that communities like the one I come from are not left behind,” said James. “Crypto.com and I are aligned on the need to educate and support my community with the information and tools they need for inclusion. I’m looking forward to working with them to bring these opportunities to my community.”
While blockchain technology is maybe just a decade old, its impacts are far-reaching, and the tech is revamping all aspects of human lives ranging from finance to education and more. With the LeBron James Family Foundation committing to human capital development even in reshaping employability and skill acquisition for students, the partnership with Crypto.com will help give a direct exposure per a company directly involved in Web3.0 emancipation.
“LeBron James and his foundation have been pioneers in truly transforming the lives of those in his community through education, and our partnership is based on a true alignment of values,” said Kris Marszalek, Co-Founder and CEO of Crypto.com. “We couldn’t be more proud to join LJFF in providing opportunities to increase educational and workforce development while delivering the tools and access that will empower the next generation to build a better and more inclusive future.”
Crypto.com has been advancing its partnership and networking in recent months, which helps give back to key stakeholders that can benefit from the unique offerings of the industry it is growing in as a leader.
NBA superstar LeBron James is teaming up with the Crypto.com exchange to promote the development of Web 3.0 through education.
In a new blog post, Crypto.com says it’s partnering with the LeBron James Family Foundation (LJFF) to provide education and access to participants of the non-profit organization’s I Promise program.
James says that he wants to ensure people from disadvantaged backgrounds are not left behind as new technologies transform the world at a rapid pace.
“Blockchain technology is revolutionizing our economy, sports and entertainment, the art world, and how we engage with one another. I want to ensure that communities like the one I come from are not left behind.
Crypto.com and I are aligned on the need to educate and support my community with the information and tools they need for inclusion.”
The I Promise program assists public school students and their families in James’s hometown of Akron, Ohio.
Singapore-based Crypto.com says of the initiative,
“Web3 promises to deliver a more fair and equitable internet, owned by the builders, creators and users. That promise can only be realized through the active engagement of diverse participants.
Through this partnership, I Promise students and families will get a strong foundation in Web3 and the innovations behind blockchain-based decentralized applications powering the future of many sectors from finance to media to art.”
The partnership with the four-time NBA champion is the latest in a series of major deals Crypto.com has secured with professional sports franchises worldwide in recent months.
Back in November, the iconic Staples Center where James plays for the Los Angeles Lakers was renamed Crypto.com Arena.
Other sponsorships with popular franchises include Formula 1 Racing, the UFC, the NHL’s Montreal Canadiens, and two European soccer teams.
Crypto.com Coin (CRO), the native token of the digital asset marketplace, is currently up 2.4% on the day and trading for $0.41.
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Featured Image: Shutterstock/Roman3dArt/Nikelser Kate
In a press release published Friday, three-time NBA champion and Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James will partner with digital currency exchange Crypto.com to support educational and workforce development opportunities focused on Web 3.0. Specifically, as told by local news outlet Akron Beacon Journal, the partnership will help 1,600 kids in LeBron James’ hometown of Akron, Ohio about the technology behind cryptocurrencies and how it will benefit their career paths in the future.
“Blockchain technology is revolutionizing our economy, sports and entertainment, the art world, and how we engage with one another. I want to ensure that communities like the one I come from are not left behind,” said James. Students will be careers available in the space in both virtual and in-person sessions with experts from Crypto.com. Kris Marszalek, Co-Founder and CEO of Crypto.com, gave the following remarks:
We couldn’t be more proud to join LJFF [LeBron James Family Foundation] in providing opportunities to increase educational and workforce development while delivering the tools and access that will empower the next generation to build a better and more inclusive future.
Crypto.com is currently the 5th largest exchange, with a 24 hours trading volume of $3 billion. It has over 10 million customers. However, not all users were fans of the development. Some claimed that the company should have devoted more attention to improving the customer experience than allocating funds to such partnerships.
You keep spending all this money with your partnerships, but still your customer support is the worst. Some still don’t have refunds from when you were hacked.
American Express (Amex) has teamed up with popular neo-soul singer and songwriter, SZA, to enter the NFT market.
The duo partnered to drop a set of 14 one-of-one edition NFTs, dubbed “Amex Unstaged x SZA: The Collection,” that depict moments from one of SZA’s recent concerts.
Participation in the NFT sale was made available only to Amex users, with the first 10 dropped on July 9, with concert-goer’s given exclusive access. The remaining 4 were dropped earlier today and were made available to all Amex users.
Each NFT was priced at $100 and all were sold out within hours of the drop.
SZA x Amex NFT drop: Fanaply
The sale was hosted on the Ethereum-powered Fanaply NFT marketplace. Other big names to have used the Fanapply marketplace are Death Row Records, comedian Joey Diaz, and musician Milky Chance.
Asics NFTs on the run
Japanese sports footwear manufacturer, Asics, is dropping a set of NFTs comprising GIFs depicting popular shoes from the firm, in addition to two new designs that will debut in tokenized form.
Slated for launch on NFT Marketplace, OpenSea, from July 15 until July 19, the Asics Sunrise Red NFT Collection consists of “limited editions” of 20 copies each, and nine “gold” one-of-one editions. In addition to seven classic styles depicted in the drop, Asics will debut two new designs in tokenized form.
It appears that Asics has plans to release more merchandise in the form of nonfungible tokens in the future, with profits from the drop slated for reinvestment into Asics’ Digital Goods Artist-in-Residence program to fund the creation of new NFTs.
Purchasers of the gold editions will also receive a free NFT in the future. The bonus token will be designed by an artist that will be selected through Asics’ Digital Goods Artist-in-Residence program.
Space Jam NFTs
In celebration of the new Space Jam film featuring NBA star Lebron James, scheduled for release on July 16, the film’s producer, Warner Bros., has dropped 91,980 Space Jam-themed NFTs on the Nifty’s Inc. marketplace.
In the Space Jam films, NBA stars form basketball teams alongside animated characters from Looney Tunes dubbed the “Tune Squad.” The drop comprises animated NFTs depicting nine Tune Squad members, including James, Bugs Bunny, and Daffy Duck.
Collectors can acquire a single token for free by registering with Nifty’s, and users can get a second NFT by sharing a social media post about Space Jam. Users can also purchase the NFTs for $2.99, and all tokens are randomly issued.
It’s almost game time! Show your love for #SpaceJamMovie by posing with the Tunes. Check it out at https://t.co/Qkktut8pOs! pic.twitter.com/cv4D5MZeNR
— Space Jam: A New Legacy (@spacejammovie) July 12, 2021
Jeff Marsilio, the co-founder and CEO of Nifty’s, and also former senior VP of new media at the NBA, told Variety that the platform is focused on making NFTs accessible to a mainstream audience.
Notable NFTs
Forest Road Co., an investment firm building the forthcoming NFT marketplace, Notables, claims to have acquired the help of Hollywood’s largest talent agencies in a bid to bolster the platform’s launch.
Speaking to Variety, the firm name-dropped William Morris Endeavor Entertainment Creative — the majority owner of Ultimate Fighting Championship, Creative Artists Agency, and United Talent Agency as stakeholders in the venture. Forest Road did not confirm if the agencies had directly backed the project financially.
According to the report, Forest Road hopes its partnerships with top Hollywood talent agencies will ensure high-ticket tokens are launched through the platform. Notables plans to support payments in both fiat and crypto.
Despite there already being carbon neutral NFTs platforms on the market, Forest Road touts that Notables will be the first-ever carbon neutral NFT platform, with the firm vowing to dedicate “upwards of $100 million” to fund the generation of 160 megawatts of solar energy to offset the resources expended by the platform.
Related:NFT sales top $2.5B in first half of 2021
Other Nifty News
Cointelegraph reported on July 9 that NFT metaverse, The Sandbox, had partnered with Skybound Entertainment, the company behind The Walking Dead comic franchise, to incorporate the popular series into The Sandbox’s virtual world.
The partnership will see The Sandbox launch a Walking Dead game mode, allowing users to play as their favorite characters, recreate scenes from the series, and build tradable in-game assets.
Earlier this month, NFT gaming startup, Ulti-Arena, announced plans to launch “proof-of-gaming,” a consensus mechanism that rewards gamers for playing popular titles.
As part of proof-of-gaming, the firm is building a dedicated game client that provides in-depth analytics on a player’s movement, speed, and reaction times — enabling them to build on their skills, and will support popular games such as Dota 2 and League of Legends.
The platform will be supported by an NFT marketplace that hosts game assets, and the project is set to launch its proof-of-gaming and NFT marketplace later this year.
Nonfungible token studio, House of Kibaa, has announced an auction of three “Legendary” NBA Top Shot NFTs depicting slam dunks from renowned pro basketball player, LeBron James.
The auction will be hosted in partnership with Heritage Auctions, and will run from May 6 until May 20. The three NFTs will be auctioned off as a single collection. Each of the tokens were released during the first season of NBA Top Shot and are of Legendary scarcity — the rarest tokens that Top Shot collectors can own.
NBA Top Shot has exploded in popularity since launching its closed beta in June 2020, and transition to open beta three months later.
By March 2021, Top Shot had generated more than $230 million in gross sales. According to CryptoSlam, Top Shot’s secondary peer-to-peer marketplace hosts more than $1.8 million worth of trades daily, according to a 30-day rolling average, with Legendary tokens having fetched six-figure prices in recent months.
House of Kibaa spokesperson, T.C. Lau, described the offering as “the largest auction sale in NBA Top Shot history,” noting that each of the tokenized moments have serial numbers that “hold a great significance to the late Los Angeles Lakers star, Kobe Bryant.” The tokens to be auctioned boast the serial numbers #26, #41, and #42.
The #26 token depicts James’ iconic “Kobe Bryant Tribute Dunk” on February 6, in which James performed the same “break away, reverse windmill, two-handed slam dunk” popularized by Bryant roughly 19 years beforehand in the same arena.
The #26 serial number also invokes the date of Bryant’s death — January 26, 2020. The announcement notes the #26 serial will never again exist in circulation for a Kobe Tribute NBA Top Shot moment.
A #3 serial Legendary token depicting the same tribute dunk from the same series set a new record for the most expensive NBA Top Shot moment sold after it was auctioned for $387,600 on April 16.
The #42 NFT depicts Lebron leading the Lakers to their 17th championship in the 2020 NBA championship finals. The win saw the Lakers secure their first championship since Bryant won his fifth and final NBA title with the team roughly a decade beforehand, with James having promised to deliver the victory in honor of Bryant’s legacy. Bryant would have been aged #42 at the time, adding significance to the NFT’s serial.
The last token up for auction boasts the #41 serial and was the first Legendary LeBron NFT minted by Top Shot. The NFT depicts a dunk performed by James two days before he and Bryant were photographed together at the following Lakers game. Bryant was aged 41 at the time the dunk was performed.
The auction will be ongoing during the May 15 ceremony for Kobe Bryant’s posthumous induction into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.
