VeChain has partnered with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) to tokenize fighter gloves and track their identities using the VeChainThor network. This partnership involves embedding the gloves with VeChain near-field communication (NFC) chips to record fight data and ensure the authenticity of each pair. After fights, the gloves will be donated and given away, becoming sought-after collectors’ items. Buyers can verify the authenticity of these gloves through a VeChainThor network smart contract. The collaboration aims to address fraud in the secondary market, where buyers often seek gloves worn during specific fights. By leveraging VeChain’s ToolChain system, the process of tracking and delivering items can be streamlined.
The introduction of 12 exclusive gloves will be distributed to A-list celebrities, with UFC CEO Dana White making a live presentation to announce the partnership. The VeChain community has shown mixed reactions to this news, with some users expressing enthusiasm for this new use case and the potential of minting real-world asset gloves as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) for every UFC event. Others suggested incorporating QR code scanning during televised events to further contribute to burning VeThor (VTHO) tokens. However, some community members criticized the announcement, believing that the associated transaction fees would not burn enough VTHO to have a significant impact on the token’s price. VeThor’s market capitalization was reported to be over $283 million, positioning it among the top 300 cryptocurrencies globally as of April 12.
The VeChain Foundation reported a treasury of $1.2 billion in May 2022. The partnership between VeChain and the UFC began in June of the same year with a $100 million sponsorship deal, solidifying their collaborative efforts within the mixed martial arts promotion. Tokenized funds continue to gain popularity, with the value of tokenized funds surging from $100 million at the beginning of 2023 to approximately $800 million. This growth is driven by the increasing tokenization of U.S. treasuries, with both public and private blockchains witnessing the inclusion of various assets. Examples include Franklin Templeton’s U.S. Government Money Fund expanding from Stellar to Polygon, Backed Finance launching a tokenized short-term U.S. treasury bond exchange-traded fund (ETF), and UBS Asset Management deploying a tokenized money market fund (MMF) on the Ethereum blockchain.
Moody’s, a leading investment risk assessment firm, highlighted the potential of tokenized MMFs to combine stability with the technological advantages of stablecoins. Last month, Singapore-based fintech company DigiFT announced the launch of its US Treasury bill depository receipt (DR) tokens. This demonstrates the ongoing trend of tokenization in the financial sector, with various institutions and organizations introducing tokenized assets on different blockchain platforms. The collaboration between VeChain and the UFC represents a significant step in utilizing blockchain technology to ensure the authenticity and traceability of real-world assets, further enhancing transparency and trust in the market.
