Rafael Nadal and Ash Barty weren’t the only ones making history at the Australian Open this year. NFT buyers scored big with historic gains at the Metaverse tournament. However, these buyers made history without breaking a sweat or leaving the comfort of their chairs.
Aussie Open in the Metaverse
The Australian Open is one of the biggest annual sporting events hosted in Australia. It features the best in the world of tennis and tickets to catch the action live in the stadium go at a premium. While the action on and around the court is always something to get excited over, this year’s Australian Open had much more to get hyped over than in previous years. The Aussie Open this year was simultaneously held in the metaverse.
The tournament’s entry into the metaverse gave fans all over the world the opportunity to experience the tournament without leaving their homes. Fans could watch the action on the court and explore restaurants and other stands around the stadium virtually on Decentraland, a virtual reality platform.
Big wins for NFT buyers
It wasn’t only tennis fans that were excited by the Aussie Open this year. The cryptoverse was charged up right before the tournament began. Craig Tiley, the tournament director, announced that they would release 6776 NFTs for sale corresponding to the winning slots from the championship. These ‘Art Ball NFTs’ also came with virtual wearables, footage of the point as well as other benefits that the owners will enjoy in the future. According to Tiley, owners of land plots on which any of the 11 championship points happen to occur, would receive the physical tennis ball from the match.
The ART Ball NFTs were generated before the tournament and were released through a public drop. Users were then allowed to pay mint on the NFTs available. The Australian Open metaverse team went to work after every tournament to collect data and determine where the winning shots landed in the real-world contest. This was then assigned to the corresponding NFT in the metaverse.
Even more exciting than the actual tournament
To say that the Australian Open tournament’s entry into the metaverse was a success is an understatement. The cryptoverse went crazy and the virtual memorabilia proved to be even more popular than was expected. The NFTs were sold out within three minutes of the public drop. The Art Balls logged over $6.14 million AUD in trading volume since January.
The value of the NFTs shot up even further when 25-year-old Barty became the first Australian in 44 years to bring the Grand Slam trophy back home by taking the women’s title. Offers for the Art Ball where Barty’s victory shot landed rose by 1230% of the original floor price. The original minter of the NFT sold the piece at 0.298 ether. This was worth $1098 AUD at the time. However, by Monday the value of the same NFT had reached as high as 1.3 ether or $4657 AUD.