Fake Manchester United token soars 3,000% after Elon Musk jokes about buying team

August 17, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Other Manchester United-related assets also rallied after Musk's tweet, as well as Manchester City's fan token.

Manchester United Fan Token (MUFC) is a dead coin and not related to the sports franchise, but one Elon Musk tweet was enough to revive it on Aug. 17.

Also, I’m buying Manchester United ur welcome
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 17, 2022

Fake Man U token pumps after Elon Musk's tweet

To clarify, MUFC is not an official Manchester United crypto token. It came to life in August 2021 after a team of programmers, who are said to be hardcore Manchester United fans, falsely claimed that holding MUFC would give buye influence on the football club's decisions.

The team later conducted an "airdrop" round of 10,000,000,000 MUFC in November 2021, promising to provide 10,000 MUFC to users who followed its official social media handles. The prospects of getting free MUFC tokens helped its price rally to as high as $1.

But the project turned out to be vaporware, eventually leading MUFC down by 100% after November. It was deemed extinct until a tweet from billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk on Aug. 17 revived it from oblivion.

The Tesla CEO tweeted that he would buy the Manchester United football club, which he later admitted was a "long-running joke."

No, this is a long-running joke on Twitter. I’m not buying any sports teams.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 17, 2022

Nonetheless, the message sent the financial assets related to Manchester United soaring, including its stock MANU, which rose 1.97% in pre-market trading, and Tezos (XTZ), the club's official blockchain and training partner, whose market valuation surged by $138.85 million.

Even Manchester City's official crypto token, CITY, popped higher by nearly 14% to reach $7 per piece after Musk's tweet, despite Manchester City being a different football club.

*CITY/USD daily price chart. Source: TradingView*

On the other hand, MUFC surged by over 3,000% hours after Musk's tweet about buying Manchester United, according to data fetched by CoinPaprika.com.

*MUFC price and volume performance (last seven days). Source: CoinPaprika.com*

"Manchester United fan token" has zero liquidity

However, the MUFC rally appears to be price manipulation due to extremely poor liquidity and volume.

Notably, in the last 24 hours, MUFC had been trading only against two crypto assets: WBNB and USDT. While the liquidity for the WBNB/MUFC pair was mere $106.84, it was even lower for the USDT/MUFC pair at around $10, according to data from PancakeSwap, a decentralized exchange.

*MUFC pools statistics as of Aug. 17. Source: PancakeSwap*

Meanwhile, the net volume that backed MUFC's 3,000% rally was approximately $39,000 in the last 24 hours, suggesting fewer traders behind the major upside move.

*MUFC volume record. Source: PancakeSwap*

Thus, a small number of speculators likely used MUFC's poor liquidity to artificially pump the token. The number of traders who bought the false upside narrative remains unclear, but given thatMUFC has already dropped by 50% from its local top, the prospect that its rate would return to zero is high.

Meanwhile, the incident reasserts Musk's strong influence on the crypto market, especially on memecoins like Dogecoin.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.

Professional soccer club Crawley Town FC signs midfielder after NFT hodlers vote

July 29, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

The June 15 vote took place for verified NFTs hodlers via a temporary Discord channel.

Professional English soccer team Crawley Town F.C. have followed through on a community vote by fans and NFT holders who were recently given a voice on what type of player the team should recruit next.

The vote, which took place on June 15, which was the first team decision opened up to fans, took place for verified NFTs hodlers via a temporary Discord channel. Votes were also taken from nearly 1,000 season ticket holders.

Speaking with the Daily Mail on July 28, Crawley Town co-owner and former ESPN gambling analyst Preston Johnson emphasized the significance of being able to offer fans a stake in the club via NFTs:

“A lot of NFT projects are just speculation with no real tangible spine, no real true story. Having a football club to root for every week? That's a spine that people attach themselves to.”

“If we can bring that to this crypto audience, especially if we're able to actually achieve promotion and move up the ranks of the English football league, then it's an even bigger story people all around the world can be part of,” he added.

Following the vote, Crawley Town announced the signing of midfielder Jayden Davis last week on a free transfer after the 20-year-old completed a successful trial with the club.

Crawley Town plies its trade in League Two, which for those not well versed in English soccer, is confusingly the fourth tier of the English professional league structure. The team was purchased by U.S. crypto and Web3 firm WAGMI United (We’re All Gonna Make It) for an estimated $20 million in April.

The firm, founded by Johnson and derivatives trader Eben Smith has the long term goal of taking Crawley Town all the way up to join the likes of Liverpool F.C. and Manchester City in the English Premier League (EPL), the top tier in England.

WAGMI United is also owned by more than 30 investors, with big names such as entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuck and Philadelphia 76ers president of basketball operations Darly Moery being on that list.

In June WAGMI United rolled out alternate team jerseys for Crawley Town that could only be purchased via its NFTs. The tokens also offer hodler’s key benefits such as voting decisions on aspects such as player transfers, along with free Adidas merchandise and exclusive physical and virtual events.

adidas is excited to announce our partnership with @WAGMIUnited to become the official kit supplier for @crawleytown.

adidas supports WAGMI’s vision of creating possibilities for football fans globally to connect, create and belong through innovation.⚽ pic.twitter.com/awYlcBP2fC
— adidas Football (@adidasfootball) June 27, 2022

WAGMI United initially rolled out 10,000 NFTs, and according to the firm’s website there are 1933 remaining that can be minted for 0.35 Ether (ETH) worth around $600 at current prices.

Other companies such as Socios have developed their own way of fan engagement via licensed fan tokens with partnered professional teams. The firm offers hodlers of the fan tokens benefits such as VIP events, meet and greets, collectibles and Socios merch, but notably does not offer fans any meaningful voting rights over their beloved teams.

The prices of Socios fan tokens are also known to be highly volatile and speculative, which has resulted in strong criticism from many soccer fans who have expressed concerns over the prospect of people losing money while also having their fandom monetized.

Tokens as a concept are terrible.

Re: crypto and football clubs, it’s a bit like keeping up with the Jonses.

Everyone else is doing so we have to do it, but it’s unregulated and rife for exploitation by those who see it as an opportunity.

Ultimately, fans lose out.
— arseblog (@arseblog) June 28, 2022

Organized groups such as Football Supporters Europe have also spoken out at being “appalled” over UEFA’s (European soccer’s governing body) decision to sign a three-year partnership with Socios back in February, citing such reasons.

Fans seek trust and better understanding of sports NFT market: Research

July 23, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

The prolonged crypto winter razed off the inflated floor prices across the NFT ecosystem, inadvertently changing investor sentiment and forcing users to rethink their long-term investment strategies.

The heavy involvement of the sports ecosystem is what expedited nonfungible tokens’ (NFT) mainstream adoption as the teams and players leveraged the technology for fan engagement. However, sports fans revealed their interest in moving beyond the hype and making investments based on knowledge about NFTs and trust in the issuers.

The prolonged crypto winter razed off the inflated floor prices across the NFT ecosystem, inadvertently changing investor sentiment and forcing users to rethink their long-term investment strategies. A study released by the National Research Group (NRG) revealed an openness among sports fans to learn about NFTs as they await a greener market.

*Number of daily NFT sales between June 2021-June 2022. Source: NonFungible*

In June 2022, NFT sales plummeted to one-year lows — signaling a momentary end of the NFT hype. Surveying 3,250 sports fans across the United States, United Kingdom, Japan and Brazil, NRG’s research revealed heightened fear of losing money or getting scammed as some of the biggest deterrents to purchasing NFTs.

Out of the lot, only 15% of the respondents had complete trust in NFT marketplaces, while 30% indicated little or no trust in them. The survey revealed that “this problem is particularly acute in Japan, where 4 in 10 consumers have low trust in NFT marketplaces.”

Despite the geopolitical differences, investors from all four countries unanimously agreed on the need for stricter regulations on NFTs, considering factors including age restrictions and risk tolerances.

Across the US, UK, Japan and Brazil, 58% of sports fans believe to have some level of understanding regarding NFTs. Additionally, 54% (or 1,755) of the respondents believe that NFTs have positively impacted their favorite sports.

Ukraine’s Ministry of Culture and Information Policy told Cointelegraph about the government’s intention to use sales proceeds from NFTs to restore physical artwork.

According to the ministry, proceeds from the sales will go toward “the restoration of Ukrainian cultural institutions,” many of which have been damaged or destroyed amid an ongoing war with Russia.

A Dive Into Fan Tokens

July 11, 2022 The Crypto Briefing

LÜM to launch ‘Access Pass’ NFTs for 25 globally known musicians

January 13, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Access Passes

“We really wanted to model ourselves off NBA Top Shot. A community that was building collective value by bringing players underneath an individual umbrella,” said LÜM CEO and Founder Max Fergus.

U.S.-based music platform LÜM is set to announce 25 partnerships with globally known musicians as part of a re-launch involving NBA Top Shot’s Dapper Labs later this quarter.

LÜM was founded in 2018 and built up a user base of more than 200,000 users with a platform that provided services such as social media, music streaming and micro-tipping for its partnered musicians and fans.

The firm has raised around $4.4 million worth of funding since 2018 according to data from Crunchbase, and partnered with popular R&B singer-songwriter Ne-Yo back in 2020.

However, LÜM is now moving on fro that business model and is relaunching on Dapper Labs’ Flow blockchain in March with the focus shifting to musician-related NFTs.

LÜM will initially roll out an NFT marketplace and fan engagement platform alongside NFTs dubbed “Access Passes.”

“When designing our First Fan Access Passes, every detail was taken into account.

We wanted to create something that felt exclusive, collectible, but looked & felt functional. Something fans will cherish but could expect to use IRL and in the future music metaverse.”#MusicNFT pic.twitter.com/pnOmfaS7OX
— LÜM (@lum_xyz) January 12, 2022

Users of the platform will be able to buy NFTs tied to their favorite musicians and trade them amongst a community of fans, while long term hodlers will be granted rewards such as priority access to artists’ future NFT drops, exclusive content and live entertainment experiences.

Musicians will be able to build their communities and launch their own Access Passes which can be used to crowdfund projects such as new album releases. It does not require artists to sign away any rights or intellectual property to middlemen according to LÜM.

Aim to onboard 100 artists in 2022

Speaking with Cointelegraph, LÜM CEO and founder Max Fergus was tight-lipped on who the 25 artists will be for the launch but indicated the wider goal is to onboard 100 top musicians in 2022 to “catalyze the mass adoption of blockchain-enabled technology by artists, and fans”, while the long term aim is to partner with more than 10,000 musicians.

Fergus stated that LÜM chose to partner with Dapper Labs and launch on Flow due to the successful and user-friendly model of other NFTs projects on the blockchain such as NBA Top Shot:

“For us, we really wanted to model ourselves off NBA Top Shot. A community that was building collective value by bringing players underneath an individual umbrella.”

NBA Top Shot is the top NFT project on Flow, and has generated more than $848.3 million worth of secondary sales since launch in late 2020 according to data from CryptoSlam.

Fergus stated that LÜM’s shift to the blockchain was part of a push to get behind “revolutionary” Web3 tech and he believes the sector's impact on the music industry will be as revolutionary as going from vinyl records to online streaming.

“I would put it on a very similar level to that. It's an entirely new way of not just experiencing artists and music but a new way of opening up the total addressable market.”

Fergus stated that a major issue he sees in the music industry right now is “ individual creators trying to monetize their individual fan base,” as he emphasized the importance of introducing a blockchain-based platform that links different communities together.

“By unifying artists underneath an umbrella, we cannot only cross-pollinate fanbases but easily introduce the blockchain community into artists that maybe they've never even known before,” he said.

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Soccer Superstar Lionel Messi Gets Part of His Contract Paid in Cryptocurrency

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Argentinian league rebrands to Torneo socios.com with new partnership

July 16, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Argentina Football Association

The partnership will see the country's top soccer league, previously named “Primera Division,” dubbed the “Torneo Socios.com” for the 2021/2022 season.

Argentina’s top pro-soccer league is getting a rebrand after it secured a new sponsorship deal with Chiliz, the creators of fan tokens and the Socios.com blockchain rewards app.

According to a July 15 announcement from Socios, the partnership with the Argentina Football Association (AFA) will see the Primera Division renamed as the Torneo Socios.com for the 2021/2022 season, with Torneo meaning “tournament” Spanish.

A league of our own.

We are incredibly proud to announce that for the 2021/22 season, Argentina's Primera División will be renamed Torneo https://t.co/2FROhT4RnG.@LigaAFA ⚡️ $CHZ pic.twitter.com/oLutukdtI3
— Socios.com (@socios) July 15, 2021

Torneo Socios.com was founded in 1891 and was the first professional league formed outside of the United Kingdom. The partnership is a significant move from both parties, as a crypto company has been chosen as the first commercial name used to rebrand the league.

“We are very happy to kick off this journey with Socios.com. It is a very important agreement, since it’s the first time the Argentinian league partners with a commercial brand to rename the tournament,” said President of the AFA, Claudio Tapia, as part of the announcement.

The firm also highlighted that the announcement follows from a partnership with the AFA to officially launch licensed Argentinian National Football team tokens on June 11.

The Socios app is a direct-to-consumer platform that leverages the Chiliz blockchain to tokenize sports franchises by offering officially licensed fan tokens. Fan token holders then earn various rewards and voting rights through the app.

The platform reportedly shares half of its proceeds from fan token sales with its partnered clubs, and the firm touts that fan tokens have already “generated over $150M in revenue” to be shared with its partners in 2021.

The platform has notched an extensive list of partnerships with top sporting giants such as the NBA’s Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers, The Ultimate Fighting Championship and the English Premier League’s Manchester City to name a few.

fan tokens

Fake Man U token pumps after Elon Musk's tweet

"Manchester United fan token" has zero liquidity

Aim to onboard 100 artists in 2022

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