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Olympic champion boxer Oleksandr Usyk partners with a new blockchain-powered tokenized ecosystem platform aimed at supporting aspiring boxers.
IBF, WBO and WBA heavyweight boxing champion Oleksandr Usyk has put his weight behind a blockchain platform that aims to tokenize and support the boxing industry.
The Olympic gold medalist has teamed up with Ukrainian-based cryptocurrency exchange Qmall to develop the Ready to Fight platform. The browser-based platform makes use of blockchain technology to help boxers tokenize their brands to receive donations and investments as well as a means to deliver exclusive content.
Ready to Fight introduces a novel means of supporting and connecting the wider boxing industry. The platform features a tokenomics ecosystem making use of its proprietary RTF tokens. Qmall is using a fork of the Ethereum blockchain to develop the in-house platform.
#CRYPTO meets #BOXING! The teams of @usykaa, Lapin, & @QmallExchange unite to revolutionize the boxing industry. @rtfight_com - the world's 1st blockchain platform for boxing! Free registration and endless possibilities for boxers, fans, coaches.
— Alexander Usyk (@usykaa) March 23, 2023
https://t.co/DbsoDwuaGs pic.twitter.com/zrHRaISW8H
Boxers and promising athletes are able to register on the platform. Upon creation of their tokenized identity, a supply of 1,000,000 name tokens with a unique ticker is created. The boxer name tokens are frozen until a specific release through an initial dex offering (ICO) or until the boxer collects a specific amount of donations.
Boxers are also obliged to reinvest earnings from the platform back into their boxing name token within five years. Boxer tokens are traded exclusively with the ecosystem’s RTF token, as are goods and services that are offered on the Ready to Fight platform. RTF tokens will be available through the Qmall exchange.
The Qmall team told Cointelegraph that the platform essentially gives users a stake in a chosen fighter’s prospective success. The value of the fighter tokens in relation RTF will be dependent on a fighter’s success as their careers progress and the increased community interest.
While fans and investors can help support their favourite boxers through donations and name token purchases, the ecosystem also promises to provide the functionality for boxers to access and pay for services like professional trainers, sparring partners, physiotherapists and nutritionists and agents using accrued RTF tokens.
Cointelegraph also reached out to Usyk to find out how blockchain technology can assist boxers in funding careers in a profession that has numerous hurdles.
“The problem for many aspiring boxers is that even though they’re killing themselves in the gym, they don’t have the connections or ability to find a team that can represent them and even if they do, most importantly, few can afford it.”
The 2012 Olympic gold medallist believes blockchain-powered platforms can level the playing field, allowing boxers to build new connections through a supportive community. Boxers can focus on training while the tokenomics of the ecosystem provides an avenue to fund their careers.
Usyk explains that the cryptocurrency space is also creating new opportunities for a wide range of industries that were not possible five or ten years ago.
“I understand and respect the philosophy behind it - democratizing how people use and move money and services, it’s changing the world and can create fairer systems, with boxing being no exception.”
Usyk said he would lean on Qmall’s expertise as a cryptocurrency exchange and NFT marketplace provider to iron out the specific tokenomics of the project and its longevity.
The Qmall team also highlighted the platform's focus on three key pillars, namely social, trade, and investment. The platform inherently functions as a social network and already features up to date original news, feature and evergreen content curated by its editorial team. The platform also aims to be a source of exclusive news and insider information from the boxing industry.
A mobile application for the platform is currently in development for both Android and iOS devices.
The 36-year-old Ukrainian heavyweight has previously tapped into the cryptocurrency space, launching an NFT collection in August 2022 aimed at raising funds for the ongoing conflict with Russia in his country.
Despite the sanctions on the crypto mixing service, the bad actors behind January's biggest exploit have deposited millions worth of funds into Tornado Cash.
The suspected actors behind the $6 million exploit of decentralized finance (DeFi) lending protocol Lendhub have just sent more than half of their ill-gotten gains from January into sanctioned crypto mixer Tornado Cash.
Blockchain security firms PeckShield and Beosin alerted their respective followers to the movement of funds on Feb. 27, noting that around 2,415 Ether (ETH) worth around $3.85 million was sent to Tornado Cash from a wallet connected to the Jan. 12 exploit.
#PeckShieldAlert ~2,415.4 $ETH (~3.85M) into Tornado Cash from @LendHubDefi exploiters
— PeckShieldAlert (@PeckShieldAlert) February 27, 2023
LendHub was exploited, and $6M worth of cryptos was stolen from its protocol on Jan. 12.https://t.co/vDxHlTgR0o pic.twitter.com/8FZY3v2Fe3
PeckShield previously reported the LendHub exploit was the largest in January with $6 million pilfered from the protocol.
On-chain intelligence firm Beosin tweeted that the latest movement means a total of 3,515.4 ETH, currently worth over $5.7 million, has been sent to Tornado Cash by the exploiter since Jan. 13.
Tornado Cash is a crypto mixing service that attempts to anonymize Ethereum transactions by combining vast amounts of Ether prior to depositing sums to other addresses.
The service was sanctioned on Aug. 8, 2022, by the United States Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) for its alleged role in the laundering of crime proceeds.
Despite the sanctions and the website for the service being taken down, Tornado Cash is still able to run and be used as it's a smart contract housed on a decentralized blockchain.
A January report by blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis said that hacks and scams once contributed to around 34% of all inflows to the mixer and were at times inflows reached around $25 million per day, but that dropped by 68% in the 30 days following the sanctions.
Related: Crypto-related enforcement actions by US states rose sharply in 2022: Report
Bad actors in the space continue to frequent the service, recently the exploiter behind an Arbitrum-based DeFi project transferred over $1.86 million in ill-gotten cryptoto Tornado Cash on Feb. 20.
The notorious North Korean hacker outfit, Lazarus Group, often sends significant sums to mixers such as Tornado Cash and Sinbad.
An early February Chainalysis report claimed that exploited funds from North Korean hackers “move to mixers at a much higher rate than funds stolen by other individuals or groups.”