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Blockchain-based fantasy game Soare has signed a four-year contract with the English Premier League in another possible sign of a thaw in the crypto winter.
The French-based non-fungible token (NFT) trading card game, has partnered with the Premier League, the English soccer league comprising 20 clubs.
Crypto market sentiments are recovering as Bitcoin trades over $23,000. And the Bitcoin Fear and Greed Index has reached the Greed zone at 61 – a one-year high.
As sentiment recovers, brands are back to partnering with crypto-related firms. Last week, the crypto casino Stake.com signed a $100 million partnership with Formula One team Alfa Romeo.
Sorare Players Can Now Trade Premier League Cards
The four-year partnership will enable Sorare players to trade official Premier League cards and compete with each other. Nicolas Julia, the co-founder of Sorare, expressed his gratitude to the athletes that helped them secure the partnership. The platform has well-known sports stars like Serena Williams, Kylian Mbappé, and Lionel Messi as investors and advisors.
Nicolas Julia tweeted, “As a football fan myself, this partnership is something I’ve dreamt of since we founded the business.” The platform has already partnered with other sports leagues such as NBA, MLB, La Liga, Bundesliga, and Serie A. Apart from the sports league, it also has partnerships with 300+ soccer teams.
The latest valuation of Sorare is $4.3 billion, which it achieved by raising $680 million during a Series B round in 2021. SoftBank’s Vision Fund team led Series A and Series B rounds for Sorare.
Regulatory Challenges Ahead
Sorare has had its share of regulatory problems in recent years. In 2021, it came under the United Kingdom Gambling Commission’s scrutiny for operating without a gambling license. The platform said at the time that it was “confident that it does not offer any forms of regulated gambling.”
It also faced trouble from the French National Gambling Authority for the same gambling licensing issue. According to Sorare, as players never lose their cards (NFTs), it should not be classified as a gambling platform.
The NFT platform signed a temporary provisional solution with French National Gambling Authority in Nov. 2022.
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