Post-Thanksgiving NFT News

GM! This is The Mint. John and I are those people that love soccer every 4 years and get way too invested in the USA's performances at the World Cup.

Today's Story

With Thanksgiving this week, we're going to keep this edition of The Mint pretty short. 

This week, we'll talk about how the World Cup and its sponsors are using NFTs, and John and I will talk about what we're thankful for in the industry and in general 😊

Fifa+ Connect

This year, more Americans are watching the World Cup than ever before. According to a survey, 26% of Americans plan on watching at least some of the tournament. That's a 5% jump from the last World Cup.

Collectibles are a huge part of nearly every other major sport in the US. As soccer viewership in the US grows, so will our hankering for soccer collectibles. 

As if they knew an uptick in viewership would happen, FIFA released "Fifa+ Connect" before the Qatar World Cup. The new initiative is highlighted by digital collectibles, a.k.a. the new term for NFTs.

You can purchase tradable packs that include special moments from past World Cups. The packs start at $4.99 and include cards with differing levels of rarity. Some cards are trading for as high as $3,000! 

When I buy one I just hope it has Spanish commentary. I love the way they celebrate goals. 

But anyways, this is a fun way for Fifa to tap into the collectibles market, and we can see them having a lot of success with this project. 

Budverse x World Cup 2022

Budweiser is a heavy investor in soccer worldwide. It's reported they spend $75 million to be the sole beer sponsor of the tournament every four years. They also endorse players such as Lionel Messi, one of the biggest stars in the sport. 

As well as being big-time investors in soccer, The Mint knows Bud for their long list of NFT projects. For this year's World Cup, the famous beer brand created Budverse, an NFT-based community and game. 

The Budverse Scoreboard NFT is available for anyone to mint and costs $100. Holders of previous Bud NFTs get the NFT for free. 

John holds the Budweiser Heritage Can NFT below, so he already snagged this NFT and will receive other goodies soon! This is an excellent example of a brand rewarding existing holders. 

Some less good news →

Although this project is a hit, Budweiser took a hit of its own during this year's World Cup. Check out this article to learn more about the not-so-good news. 

John's Bit

This year has been one of growth and change for me. After leaving my decade-long career as CEO/Co-Founder of Lemonly, 2022 has been a winding journey of discovery. I'm grateful for the things I've always had that keep me grounded - family, friends, and a healthy body to exercise and explore. I'm also grateful for the new things in my life like The Mint, working with new people (Austin/Caitlin and others), meeting new connections in the Web3 space, and stretching my brain to both understand but also teach things like blockchain and NFTs.

In addition to our work with The Mint and No Fun Team, I recently launched a coaching business called January. This is familiar work but in a completely new setup. I'm working with founders of agencies and professional services companies to grow to their first $1 million in revenue. So far, I'm loving helping them build their systems and processes and letting them dream about what their businesses can become. Thanks to all of you for joining us on this discovery of the world of NFTs!

Austin's Bit 

I'm grateful for many things this Thanksgiving. Meeting John and starting this newsletter with him and Caitlin has been great. I look forward to researching NFT news every week and enjoy the commitment that a weekly newsletter beckons from me. Although we don't have thousands of subscribers, I'm happy with what we've built at The Mint so far, and I'm excited to see where it takes our team. The NFT & crypto market hasn't been great lately, but it's certainly been interesting to cover from a news perspective. We're going to see lots of transformation and reform in the years to come. 

As far as other things go, I'm enjoying my life as a professional runner and am incredibly blessed to be doing what I love daily. I can't wait to open up my professional career in January. If you want to follow my running journey, you can follow me on Strava or my team's Instagram page. 

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That concludes this week's version of The Mint! Thanks for reading, and make sure to share your freshly-minted knowledge with your friends and coworkers.