OKX launches NFT World Cup competition
Important takeaways
- The World Cup is underway, with crypto companies taking to the field
- OKX has launched an NFT tournament, with customers able to create three free NFTs
- Brazil are the favourites, but European nations have won every tournament since 2002
It’s WC time.
Arguably the biggest sporting competition on the planet, the World Cup is a truly global event. Although this edition may be marred by human rights abuses and the corrupt nature in which it was awarded, 32 nations have nevertheless come together to decide who will reign supreme for the next four years.
Crypto world leverages World Cup for exposure
Even within the world of cryptocurrency, the World Cup has an impact. It was Cristiano Ronaldo who launched an NFT collection on Binance. While this would otherwise be noteworthy, it was buried in the news because it came while Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao was feuding with Sam Bankman-Fried on Twitter, which ultimately led to the scandalous collapse of FTX.
First Lionel Messi who stole Ronaldo’s limelight (for a goal it was against Mexico), and then Sam Bankman-Fried. The guy can’t catch a break.
Elsewhere in NFTs, OKX has launched an OKX Football Cup, a competition that allows players to mint NFTs and compete for prizes. While I’ve been critical of the NFT market for its lack of value as part of the flailing metaverse, I love my football.
And so, despite my current concern about NFTs, with the ability to create free NFTs for three different teams, I decided to take a fun look and see which teams were best placed to win the World Cup. Although I should caveat that these NFTs with OKX are not strictly free. Customers are still required to pay gas fees, which on Ethereum can be quite steep – and actually put me off making one myself.
But as long as you coin before the group stage ends on December 3rdrdyou will be able to enter the competition, and the gas tax will be the only cost.
Who will win the World Cup?
To determine who are the best teams to beat, I first charted the odds of each team winning the tournament. For this I drew the odds for bookmakers, starting on Tuesday 29th November (this is before the resolution to the England/USA group tonight).
With 27.4%, Brazil is considered the most likely team to win the tournament. Personally, I’d like to see them do that. Brazil’s national team is nothing short of iconic, and having not held the trophy aloft since 2002, it would be nice to see them do so.
In fact, European teams have won the last four World Cups since Brazil beat Germany 2-0 in Yokohama, Japan in 2002. Italy won four years later in 2006 (courtesy of Zinedine Zidane’s mental breakdown), Spain prevailed in 2010 as part of their complete dominance of international football, Germany beat Argentina in 2014 and France topped a powerful Croatian outfit in 2018.
Is it a good idea to stamp Brazil?
In truth, the answer to who to impress here is simple. There are three top favourites: Brazil, France and Spain. With their odds of winning at 27.4%, 14.7% and 12.2% respectively, there is a 53% chance of one of the trio lifting the trophy.
But where’s the fun in picking the favorites?
My heart says Argentina, as it would be a joy to see the little maestro, Lionel Messi, walk off into the sunset with the biggest prize of all under his arm. But having seen the Argentines struggle mightily so far, their odds of 10% to win seem generous.
For me, in the absence of my own country from the tournament (Ireland), I’m rooting for the two South American nations. As a European, it’s nice to see Spain, France and the like playing well, but I’m ready to see the South Americans take back the crown.
Deep down I think maybe Spain or France can do it. I don’t know why I don’t trust Brazil, as talented as their squad is. A knock on Neymar doesn’t help either.
But hey, who knows. I guess that’s why we watch the games.
