Cricket World Cup to feature Web3 fan app as ICC taps into NEAR blockchain

The International Cricket Council has partnered with NEAR Foundation to physique a blockchain-powered, Web3 instrumentality engagement app for the 2023 Cricket World Cup successful India, which promises to scope hundreds of millions of fans implicit the adjacent six weeks.

Cointelegraph spoke exclusively to ICC caput of integer Chris Donovan and NEAR CEO Finn Bradshaw, who unpacked details of the Web3 mobile app that is aimed astatine driving instrumentality engagement before, during and aft matches astatine the planetary showpiece successful India.

Related: From cricket to crypto: AB de Villiers ventures into Web3

The ICC’s archetypal foray into the satellite of Web3 was the instauration of an NFT level called FanCraze successful 2022 that gave fans the quality to ain highlights of historical moments from assorted ICC tournaments. Donovan said that it laid the instauration for aboriginal Web3 exploits:

“We loved the assemblage that grew astir that product, truthful we person been looking for different usage cases that assistance fortify our fans’ emotion of cricket.”

The app volition let fans to play prediction games requiring strategy selections for games during the competitions. Fans volition gain points reflecting their selections and the existent result of matches, counting towards leaderboards and rewards during the competition.

The ICC's instrumentality engagement app - arsenic featured successful its announcement video.

Donovan said that cricket’s governing assemblage and NEAR stock a akin imaginativeness for however Web3 exertion tin amended integer experiences for fans and that NEAR's Blockchain Operating System's interoperability with different networks was a cardinal origin successful the partnership:

“A large portion of that is astir creating products with greater interoperability crossed blockchains.”

While NEAR is simply a layer-1 blockchain, it features scalable infrastructure supporting communication, astute declaration and transaction capabilities with different blockchain ecosystems. Bradshaw said that this diagnostic could beryllium utile arsenic much usage cases are explored successful the concern that ends successful December 2025:

“The ICC is lone focused connected moving with a azygous layer-1 blockchain spouse for now, but they are alert of the Blockchain Operating System's interoperability capacity.”

As Cointelegraph has explored astatine length, selling and advertizing successful assorted sports codes has been a operator successful the adoption of cryptocurrencies and Web3 successful general. Bradshaw believes that a Cricket World Cup being hosted successful India presents different accidental to contiguous moving usage cases of blockchain technology.

“In partnering with the astir fashionable athletics connected the sub-continent, we expect it to beryllium a showcase for the ecosystem's exertion and partners successful demonstrating what a mass-market web3 exertion looks like.”

According to Bradshaw, NEAR Foundation’s concern improvement squad worked alongside the ICC for 4 months researching and identifying usage cases for the Cricket World Cup. The tourney gets underway connected Oct. 5 and the final is scheduled for Nov. 19.

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