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Okx to Launch Okx Collective, a Metaverse Experience Powered by Manchester City Soccer Players

Okx to Launch Okx Collective, a Metaverse Experience Powered by Manchester City Soccer PlayersOkx, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the market, has announced the launch of its soccer-focused metaverse experience, called the “Okx Collective.” The immersive experience will include Jack Grealish, Rúben Dias, Ilkay Gündoğan, and Alex Greenwood, stars from Manchester City, the reigning champion of the Premier League. Okx To Launch Okx Collective Metaverse Sports […]

Planning Ahead: Cosmos Health Looks to Add Bitcoin and Ethereum to Its Treasury

Bitcoin, space travel and TikTok debut in Guinness World Records

The latest edition has included a host of achievements from “Cryptomania,” including the record CryptoPunk NFT sale and El Salvador becoming the first country to adopt BTC as a legal Tender.

Guinness World Records has added Bitcoin (BTC) and a number of blockchain events in the latest edition of its record book under the category of “Cryptomania.”

The recognition of crypto by a mainstream staple such as Guinness World Records indicates that blockchain and digital assets were among the most publicly touched-on subjects over the past couple of years.

The 2023 edition, launched last month, has seen a number of notable crypto achievements included which spanning Bitcoin, crypto adoption, fan tokens and nonfungible tokens (NFTs).

Bitcoin was unsurprisingly recognized as the most valuable cryptocurrency, with its market cap of $816.69 billion as of March 24, 2022, while it also got recognition for being the world’s first decentralized crypto after launching in early 2009.

“Bitcoin was developed as a solution to the challenge of regulating a digital currency without any centralized organization, or ‘trusted third party’, to oversee transactions,” The Guinness World Records’ description reads online, adding that other attempts had come before that ultimately relied on a trusted third party.

OG NFT project CryptoPunks also made the cut for the most “expensive NFT collectible” after CryptoPunk #5822 was purchased for $23.7 million, or 8,000 Ether (ETH) on Feb. 12 this year by entrepreneur Deepak Thapliya.

It is worth noting that Beeple’s record $69.3 million record NFT sale didn’t make the cut there, as the firm described an NFT collectible as “limited-edition sets of artwork built around pre-rendered templates.”

Fan tokens also appeared as a category in the book. Manchester City’s token — launched via Socios in June 2021 — was recorded as the “most valuable fan token” with a market cap of $47.1 million as of March 24, 2022.

El Salvador was also included in the book for being the “first country to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender” in June last year.

“It was hoped that this move, which was condemned by the World Bank, would reduce the cost of international transfers — an important consideration for a country that is reliant on money sent home by workers overseas,” it read.

A Guinness World Records spokesperson told Cointelegraph that each edition “tries to reflect that year’s zeitgeist and the topics our readers are likely to be discussing,” with crypto joining the likes of space travel and TikTok as key subjects.

“We will be watching this space with interest over the next few years, as the technologies that underpin crypto develop and find a wider range of applications,” they said.

Related: Walmart CTO says crypto will become a 'major' payments disruptor

When asked about what was the most head-scratching and monumental records from Cryptomania, the spokesperson highlighted the innovation of Bitcoin, noting that it took the company a long time to get its head around it:

“Researching this title involved not only figuring out how to describe what a blockchain is [...] but also putting into context decades of cryptocurrency research and what made it different to any earlier projects.”

Last week, crypto exchange Binance also revealed that it had broken a Guinness World Record after it was recognized for conducting the largest crypto lesson to date, with 289 people in attendance at Blockchain Land Nuevo León on Oct. 7.

Planning Ahead: Cosmos Health Looks to Add Bitcoin and Ethereum to Its Treasury

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

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.

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."

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.

Related: Crypto scams fall 65% after gullible noobs exit the market: Chainalysis

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.

Planning Ahead: Cosmos Health Looks to Add Bitcoin and Ethereum to Its Treasury

Sports sponsorships sealed amid market turmoil as Man City inks deal with OKX

Manchester City fans will also have a chance to win season tickets in the OKX Hospitality Box via scanning QR codes on street art commissioned by the crypto exchange.

Crypto exchange OKX has announced that it has made a deal with English Premier League (EPL) champions Manchester City to become the team’s training kit sponsor for the 2022-23 season.

Despite the current bear market, it appears that crypto and sports partnerships have been going strong, with fellow EPL team Everton also recently signing a match kit sponsorship with crypto gambling firm Stake. At the same time, PSG has also launched preseason NFT tickets.

The OKX deal will put a fair amount of eyeballs on company branding, given that Manchester City won the EPL last season and is looking primed to make another tilt at the league this upcoming season after signing the Norwegian star striker Erling Haaland.

As part of the deal, OKX’s logo will feature on both the men’s and the women’s training gear until mid-2023, with current previews showing OKX’s name on the front of training shirts in the lower chest area.

Additionally, OKX stated that it had commissioned popular street artist “Akse P19” and the Global Street Art Agency to create four artworks across Manchester that include QR codes. These can be scanned by fans for a chance to win season tickets in the OKX Hospitality Box. The street art pieces depict players such as Haaland, Jack Grealish, João Cancelo, and John Stones.

The duo has held a partnership since March after OKX was signed on to become Manchester City’s Official Cryptocurrency Exchange Partner. They have also touted that more Web3-focused fan engagement experiences will be rolled out.

OKX was founded in 2017 and is based in the Republic of Seychelles. The firm claims to have more than 20 million customers across the globe from around 180 international markets. It supports trading on top assets such as Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Polkadot (DOT), and Cardano (ADA).

Related: Manchester City to build Etihad Stadium in the metaverse

The most recent crypto deal that precedes Manchester City’s is Everton’s deal with Stake, which was announced on June 9. The multi-year agreement is said to be worth roughly $12 million a season, marking the club’s “highest front-of-shirt deal in the club’s 144-year history,” according to a statement from Everton. Stake also held a sponsorship deal with Watford F.C. last season, who will be plying their trade in the second tier of pro-English football after being relegated.

PSG jumps on NFTs

This week, French Ligue 1 champions Paris Saint-Germain F.C. (PSG) also announced a crypto-related move, with the team rolling out NFT tickets for its pre-season tour of Japan later this month.

To commemorate PSG’s first trip to Japan since 1995, the team is offering three premier NFT tickets that offer buyers VIP access to games, meet and greets, player autographs, and private parties with a select group of players who were not specified.

The NFTs are on sale until Wednesday, and to obtain all of those supposed benefits, the buyer will have to pay a hefty 180.36 ETH, worth around $207,000 at current prices.

Planning Ahead: Cosmos Health Looks to Add Bitcoin and Ethereum to Its Treasury

Manchester footballing rivalries commence in field of Web3

Following Manchester United's partnership with blockchain firm Tezos almost one month ago, Manchester City's foray in the space having partnered with crypto exchange OKX provides new competition in vie for technological prominence.

Leading English football club Manchester City have announced an inaugural cryptocurrency exchange partnership with OKX across both its men’s and women’s teams, as well as the clubs emerging e-sports ventures.

According to the club’s press release, the collaboration will focus on “exclusive experiences for OKX’s global customer base, in addition to an in-stadium presence across the Etihad Stadium and Academy Stadium.”

Rebranded from OKEx in mid-January this year, OKX — a Seychelles-based corporation with reportedly over 20 million customers — is the second largest spot exchange in the industry, facilitating over $4.3 billion in normalized trading volume over the past twenty-four hours. This total places them ahead Coinbase in third at approximately $3.3 billion, but someway behind Binance’s dominance at the top of the table with over $16.2 billion.

CEO of OKX, Jay Hao, noted that "Manchester City is a Club that represents the effect football has to make a positive difference in people’s lives, to bring people together around a shared love of the beautiful game."

Related: Penalties and extra time: The scoreboard for soccer club crypto deals

Amid an ever-present rivalry, and fierce jostle for bragging rights in the city of Manchester — especially in light of the upcoming derby match this Sunday — both club’s commercial sides are taking considerable strides in the digital asset space, respectively scoring lucrative deals with industry firms, and racing to expand their influence in the Web3 sphere.

Manchester United preceded their counterparts after teaming up with blockchain firm Tezos in early February to become their new official training kit and technology partner, including plans to enter the metaverse, tokenomic, and nonfungible token, or NFT, collectible space.

In April 2021, Forbes published the latest statistics ranking the world's most valuable football clubs. While Spanish-giants Barcelona and Real Madrid took the top spots, Manchester United came in fourth with a value of $4.2 billion and a revenue across 2020 of $643 million. Meanwhile, Manchester City came in sixth place at $4 billion and $609 million, respectively. 

Similarly, fellow Premier League North-London based club, Arsenal attempted to enter the fan-token market, only to be halted in their endeavours by Advertising Standards Authority, or ASA, for breaching rules, and according to the regulatory body: “irresponsibly taking advantage of consumers’ inexperience and for failing to illustrate the risk of the investment.”

Planning Ahead: Cosmos Health Looks to Add Bitcoin and Ethereum to Its Treasury

Manchester City to build Etihad Stadium in the Metaverse

The celebrated soccer team has begun the initial stages of building its iconic home stadium in the Metaverse so fans can be part of live and recorded matches around the world.

Premier League champions Manchester City and their new partner Sony have begun building a virtual replica of the Etihad Stadium which will be the team’s central hub in the Metaverse.

Etihad Stadium is the home of Manchester City, England’s top soccer team at the moment. The team announced on Feb. 18 that it had signed a three-year agreement with Sony, which will provide virtual reality experts to use image analysis and skeletal-tracking technology from subsidiary Hawk-Eye.

Manchester City hopes fans will enjoy all the benefits of having a virtual stadium. Although Covid restrictions are still hampering travel options for some, the ability to watch games in an immersive Metaverse setting could be a relief to fans itching to get a taste of a game setting again.

The team is tearing down geographic barriers for fans who want to be part of a live or recorded match by beginning construction of the virtual Etihad Stadium. City Football Group’s chief marketing officer Nuria Tarre told Inews on Feb. 18 that:

“The whole point we could imagine of having a Metaverse is you can recreate a game, you could watch the game live, you’re part of the action in a different way through different angles and you can fill the stadium as much as you want because it’s unlimited, it’s completely virtual.”

Sony’s Hawk-Eye subsidiary has long been dedicated to enhancing sports for viewers and officials. It helps officials make in-game judgments in real-time with specialized replay technology. Its visualization applications will be used to recreate the dimensions of Etihad Stadium in the Metaverse.

Man City’s new partnership with Tezos (XTZ), announced on Feb. 10, was the first part of what now appears to be a full push into Web3 exposure for the team. Tezos will be the team’s official Web3 and training kit partner, and may also help develop digital merchandise which may have a connection with Etihad Stadium in the Metaverse.

Related: Former Manchester United players to launch soccer-centric DAO

Cointelegraph wrote on Jan. 23 that “increased interactivity and ownership of virtual items” were particular assets to having a base in the Metaverse. Man City may be jumping on both of those opportunities to give fans around the world more accessibility to the team and stadium.

Man City’s foray into Web3 and the Metaverse could be of interest to Liverpool FC. The Reds may follow suit in order to boost revenue, according to ECHO, a Liverpool news outlet.

Planning Ahead: Cosmos Health Looks to Add Bitcoin and Ethereum to Its Treasury