Financial payment giant, MasterCard, has created its first NFT to be given to a lucky U.K. customer at random. The company collaborated with famous Portuguese football coach, Jose Mourinho, the current ambassador, to launch the digital collectible in the U.K. The NFT is an animated football signed by the Portuguese coach.
The popularity of NFTs continues to grow immensely, as the digital space continues to intertwine with conventional industries and icons in different spheres. MasterCard has become the latest addition to the popular eco-space, with its U.K. branch becoming one of the first financial companies to announce its non fungible token.
According to MasterCard, the NFT will not be up for auction. Instead, it’s part of the company’s sweepstake for all the cardholders in the U.K. A raffle draw will be held at intervals, and the winner will be selected on September 30.
MasterCard Has Made Similar Moves in the Crypto Space
Over the past year, MasterCard has been making big moves in the crypto space. Before the company ventured into creating its NFT, it announced its corporate program for blockchain-based startups in July. The program is intended to provide these businesses with the tools and information needed to excel.
According to a press release from the company, the program would help expand and foster innovation in crypto technology and tokenization. Seven startups were chosen to partake in the program, with each participating company supervised on bringing up solutions to address the various issues present in the digital space.
MasterCard made another move in the same month when it announced it would improve its card program for digital asset wallets and exchanges. According to the company, the decision will make changing cryptocurrency to fiat currencies convenient for users. MasterCard also revealed that enhancing its card program will facilitate payment transactions and new economic activities. The financial payment firm urged banks and its partners to provide a card option for customers wanting to spend their digital assets anywhere MasterCard is officially used.
MasterCard isn’t the only firm making solid crypto moves. Its rival Visa acquired its first non fungible Tokens CryptoPunk worth $150k. This news further popularized NFTs, especially on social media. Days after the announcement, the company published its whitepaper on NFTs, which received wild appraisals. It meant that Visa would soon begin making its NFTs soon.
With MasterCard in the NFT space, everyone is wondering what company would be the next to get into the ecosystem.