Tennis Australia Commits to More NFTs Despite Chaos in Crypto Markets | Non-fungible tokens (NFT)

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Tennis Australia is expanding its NFT ball art offering for this year’s Australian Open, saying it’s in it for the long haul despite uncertainty in the crypto market.

The Open last year launched an AO Artball collection as the hype surrounding all things crypto peaked, with 6,776 pieces of ball art sold as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) which are tied to 19cm x 19cm plots on the grounds of Melbourne Park.

An additional 2,454 NFTs are offered this year.

Inside the strange world of NFTs

Non-fungible tokens are a crypto asset that confers ownership of a digital item, in this case a unique illustration of an Australian Open tennis ball.

Tennis Australia promised at launch to update the metadata on each individual NFT each time a winning stroke in a match landed on the court assigned to that NFT. He also stated that there will be merchandise and other benefits for those who own the NFTs.

The bullets were priced at 0.067 in the Ethereum cryptocurrency of around AU$278 at the time of the strike on January 22, 2022 and all NFTs were sold.

The value of Ethereum has since declined, so that 0.067ETH is now worth only $130. In the OpenSea market where the AO Artball collection is held, the floor price is higher than the original price at 0.092 ETH, which still represents a loss of around $100 from a year ago for ball sellers .

Ridley Plummer, senior director of metaverse, NFTs, web3 and cryptocurrency at Tennis Australia, said the organization does not focus on short-term market fluctuations.

We shouldn’t just lay down our tools and leave because the markets have their challenges, he said. There are obviously a ton of external factors that come into play when you’re exploring new technology like Web3 and NFTs, and when you’re an innovative company like Tennis Australia and the AO there are obviously challenges and rewards which also ensue.

Unlike investment-only NFTs, the artball program is billed as a type of Australian Open membership. Tennis Australia runs a Discord server for members that helps people learn how to get into NFTs, and an NFT owner rewards program that includes finals week ground passes, access to select United Cup matches and access to a site with behind-the-scenes footage that is not part of the grand slam broadcast.

Plummer said about 2,000 NFT owners have accepted the offer of Open tickets.

He said ownership of NFTs could be considered similar to a gold or silver frequent flyer membership, and people who purchase NFTs for 2022 and 2023 would be the equivalent of the executive frequent flyer.

They will get access to better benefits sooner than everyone else, he said.

AO Artballs for 2023 will be minted from 7:00 AEDT on Thursday and will start at 0.23ETH each around $446.

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