NFT in Cybersport

Cryptocurrencies are actively developing, giving their users many new opportunities and perspectives. 

Blockchain technology has been taken up by many major technological and financial giants. Its application is being considered in many areas. 

With the advent of NFT, the possibilities of cryptocurrencies have expanded even further, affecting many new areas such as cyber sports and gaming itself, adding to them not only the competitive spirit of gaming and winning, but also the ability to earn substantial amounts of money.

However, the attitude towards NFT in cybersport is ambiguous. 

For example, in October 2021, Valve completely banned third-party developers from creating blockchain-based applications that release or allow the exchange of cryptocurrencies or NFT.

At the same time, Steam's closest competitor Epic Games agrees to place games that will use blockchain technology.

Riot Games has applied for a trademark in the NFT sector.

NFT can be used in many different areas and one such area is the gaming industry, where NFTs are not only actively used, but also make large sums of money. 

A player in the popular blockchain game Axie Infinity made a $1.5 million deal by buying land for 888.5 ETH. CryptoKitties is another popular game in which a kitten named Dragon was bought for 600 ETH.

NFT are used in eSports as a way to prove ownership of in-game skins, highlights, trophies, etc. The main advantage of NFT as opposed to other game assets is the ability to buy, transfer and sell these items outside of the virtual world and game industry. 

This opportunity attracts many users to games, combining digital technology and the financial opportunities it brings with cybersports.

NFTs bring new opportunities to engage fans in cyber sports, thereby helping to popularize eSports, benefiting teams and players, tournament organizers, publishers, and other stakeholders. 

The use of NFT in Cybersport

For this reason, NFT is actively used by many developers and eSports teams.

NaVi

The cyber sports club Natus Vincere was the first to launch its own NFT for fans, the main purpose of which is to reward fans of the club for watching the team's matches.

OG team 

The OG team has released a case of commemorative rings. Players from Team Dota 2 managed to win International Tournaments in 2018 and 2019. Thanks to this, they received four legendary championship rings. To celebrate the event, OG decided to paint these rings and release a collection on the Nifty Gateway platform

WePlay Collectibles 

WePlay Collectibles is an NFT project created to bring together cybersports fans, artists and digital art enthusiasts. The WePlay Collectibles platform offers NFT digital and physical cybersport memorabilia and tournament-related awards, as well as unique items and contemporary artwork.

The problems of NFT in Cybersport

However, despite all the advantages and the use of NFT by many eSport game developers and teams, the NFT industry has many problems. 

Among them are the security and safety issues that both large companies and eSport teams, as well as ordinary players, constantly face. 

The technology for creating NFTs is very new. Many users don't understand it. They  do not know the financial and valuation components of NFT.  

The hype around pricing speaks to its speculative nature, as both financial regulators and major gaming platforms have repeatedly warned about. 

Therefore, it is not surprising that many lawyers advise cybersport organizations to avoid cryptocurrencies and NFT in general.

There is also concern that the merger of NFT with cybersports and gaming could expose the community to even greater risk of fraud and hacking.

Along with NFT comes cheaters in the gaming industry. Developer Evolved Apes, who supposedly had a collection of 10,000 unique NFTs, turned out to be a scammer, disappearing with more than $2.7 million.

Platforms and tools are now emerging to help to solve the problems NFT faces in cybersport. 

Conclusion

Tools have emerged that combat cheaters by verifying the authenticity of digital assets by recording data in an immutable decentralized ledge, authenticating the seller or his sites hosting in-game NFTs. 

This ensures that the seller has the legal right to sell such assets and that the assets are authentic and match their description.