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World’s largest sporting event, the Olympic Games is a major crowd-puller. Millions of people from around the globe come to witness the athletes in action, cheer them, and be part of the 125-year-old tradition. The Tokyo 2020, which is scheduled to commence on July 23, is different though, as no foreign spectators are allowed due to COVID-19 .
To engage with the fans, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced a new Olympic-themed digital entertainment experience consisting of non-fungible token (NFT) Olympic Pins, in collaboration with San Francisco-based video game developer, nWay.
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The NFT Olympic Pins are digital versions of collectable and tradeable Olympic Pins, which will first be distributed and sold on nWayPlay.com – a decentralised marketplace for NFTs, starting on June 17, 2021.
“Olympic pins started as a way to identify athletes, judges and officials, but over the past 125 years, it has become an Olympic Games tradition, where everyone from athletes to event staff, journalists and spectators all take part to collect and trade pins in the Olympic Village and beyond,” Timo Lumme, MD, IOC Television and Marketing Services, said in a statement. “They [fans] can now connect with the excitement of the Games in a whole new way and own a piece of Olympic history.”
The NFT Olympic Pins will launch with an inaugural set that forms part of the Olympic Heritage Collection, which celebrates the art and design of the past Olympic Games as well as reflects the graphic legacy of the world’s largest sporting event, such as posters, emblems, pictograms, and mascots, the IOC elaborated.
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Being NFTs, the digital Olympic Pins will have various properties generally associated with physical pins, including authenticity, scarcity, and provenance, making them true collectors’ items, it noted.
In addition to purchasing the assorted packs of the NFT Olympic Pins on the nWayPlay Marketplace, collectors can obtain them by buying specific pins directly from other collectors, and free of charge by playing an Olympic-themed video game that will be launched later this year, in the lead up to the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022.
