Cristiano Ronaldo will make NFTs in collaboration with Binance

With the cryptocurrency business Binance, Cristiano Ronaldo has signed a multi-year collaborative marketing partnership. Several Ronaldo NFT collections will be created as part of the agreement announced today, and they will only be made available on the Binance NFT market.

Ronaldo said in a Thursday post, “Proud to be partnering with @binance Together we’ll give you the opportunity to own an iconic piece of sports history. I’m excited to take this journey with all of you. Let’s change the NFT game with #Binance.”

Later this year, Ronaldo’s first NFTs on Binance are anticipated to go on sale. NFTs are tokens built on the blockchain that represent ownership of tangible or digital assets.

Ronaldo said in another statement, “My relationship with the fans is very important to me, so the idea of bringing unprecedented experiences and access through this NFT platform is something that I wanted to be a part of. I know the fans are going to enjoy the collection as much as I do.”

With 459 million followers, Ronaldo has the most Instagram followers of anyone. He won the FIFA Player of the Year award five times, became a household name while playing professional soccer, and has amassed over 770 goals. He is only 37 years old and a billionaire.

Massive response to Ronaldo’s announcement

Ronaldo’s tweets and Instagram posts announcing the Binance news received more than 48 million impressions in an hour, according to partnership analytics company Zoomph.

Although some cynics called NFTs “scammy” and “worthless trash,” most fan reaction to the revelation was favorable.

The Weeknd’s upcoming world tour will be “Crypto-Powered” thanks to Binance’s sponsorship, which will also include an NFT collection and a $2 million donation to The Weeknd’s XO Humanitarian Fund under the UN World Food Program. Ronaldo’s Binance partnership was disclosed just a few weeks ago.

Ironically, all of these celebrity endorsement deals come just a week after Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao tweeted that his business had turned down high-priced endorsement deals like “Super Bowl ads” and “stadium naming rights,” which had allowed Binance to continue hiring despite the cryptocurrency bear market and a wave of mass layoffs at corporations.

“It was not easy saying no to Super Bowl ads, stadium naming rights, and large sponsor deals a few months ago, but we did. Today, we are hiring for 2000 open positions for #Binance.”

It would be interesting to see how the NFT project fares in the bearish market. All the top NFT collections have lost significant valuations amid the ongoing global crypto crisis.