The International Cricket Council (ICC) has partnered with the Near Foundation to build a blockchain-based Web3 fan engagement application for the 2023 Cricket World Cup in India, which is expected to reach hundreds of millions of fans in the next six weeks.
Cointelegraph exclusively spoke with ICC Digital Head Finn Bradshaw and Near CEO Chris Donovan, who detailed the details of a Web3 mobile app designed to increase fan engagement before, during and after global sporting events in India. Participation.
Related: From cricket to cryptocurrency: AB de Villiers moves into Web3
ICC’s first foray into the Web3 world was in 2022 when it created a non-fungible token (NFT) platform called FanCraze, allowing fans to own highlights of historic moments from various ICC tournaments. Bradshaw said it sets the stage for future Web3 vulnerabilities:
“We love the community that has grown around the product, so we’re always looking for other use cases to help enhance fans’ love for cricket.”
The app will allow fans to play prediction games, requiring them to choose a gaming strategy during the match. Fans will earn points based on their choices and the actual results of the game, and count towards leaderboards and rewards during the game.
Bradshaw said that cricket governing bodies and Near share a similar vision for how Web3 technology can improve fans’ digital experience, and that the interoperability of Near’s blockchain operating system with other networks is a key factor in this collaboration:
“A big part of that is creating products with greater interoperability across blockchains.”
Although Near is a layer 1 blockchain, it has a scalable infrastructure that supports communication, smart contracts, and transaction functions with other blockchain ecosystems. Donovan said the feature may prove useful as more use cases are explored in the partnership, which ends in December 2025:
“ICC is currently focused on working with a single Tier 1 blockchain partner, but they are aware of the interoperability of blockchain operating systems.”
As Cointelegraph explores in detail, marketing and advertising in various campaigns have driven the adoption of cryptocurrencies and Web3 in general. Donovan believes that the Cricket World Cup in India provides another opportunity to demonstrate working use cases of blockchain technology.
“By partnering with the subcontinent’s most popular sport, we hope it can serve as a showcase for ecosystem technologies and partners to showcase what mass-market Web3 applications can look like.”
According to Donovan, Near Foundation’s business development team worked with the ICC for four months to research and identify use cases for the Cricket World Cup. The competition will start on October 5th, with the finals scheduled for November 19th.
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