The International Cricket Council (ICC) has partnered with Near Foundation to build a blockchain-powered Web3 fan engagement app for the Cricket World Cup to be held in India in 2023. The app is expected to reach millions of fans in the next six weeks.Finn Bradshaw, ICC Head of Digital, and Chris Donovan, CEO of Near, have detailed the Web3 mobile app aimed at driving fan engagement before, during and after matches at the global sporting event in India.According to the announcement the app will allow fans to play games that predict strategy selection for the game during the competition. Fans will earn points reflecting their selections and the actual outcome of matches, which will count towards leaderboards and awards during the competition. The ICC says cricket's governing body and Near share a common vision about how Web3 technology can improve digital experiences for fans. Let us tell you that ICC's first entry into the world of Web3 was in 2022. A non-fungible token (NFT) platform called FanCraze was then created, which allowed fans to own highlights of various ICC tournaments.
Let us tell you that Near is a layer-1 blockchain, it has scalable infrastructure supporting communication, smart contracts and transaction capabilities with other blockchain ecosystems. This facility can prove useful for ICC. Near Foundation's business development team worked with the ICC for four months, researching and identifying use cases for the Cricket World Cup. Let us tell you that the tournament will start from 5th October and the final will be held on 19th November.
The partnership is scheduled to run until December 2025 with more use cases to be explored. Marketing and advertising in various games have driven crypto and Web3 adoption in general. The Cricket World Cup being held in India provides another opportunity to present the use cases of blockchain technology.
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