Cristiano Ronaldo’s NFT Journey With Binance: From Facing a $1 Billion Lawsuit to Launching His Fourth Collection
Cristiano Ronaldo, one of the world’s most famous soccer players, has partnered with Binance to launch multiple NFT collections, aiming to revitalize the NFT market. Binance recently launched the Forever Worldwide: The Road to Saudi Arabia NFT collection in partnership with Ronaldo. This was the fourth collection in their collaboration and was exclusively available on the Binance NFT Marketplace. The collection featured seven unique NFTs, each representing a key location in Ronaldo’s career: Madeira, Lisbon, Manchester, Madrid, Turin, Saudi Arabia, and Portugal.
Collectors were able to earn rewards based on the number of unique NFTs they owned. The first drop of the ‘Forever Worldwide: The Road to Saudi Arabia’ NFT collection became available exclusively on the Binance NFT Marketplace starting May 29, 2024.
The collection was released in multiple phases throughout the football season, ending with an auction on June 14, which featured extremely rare NFTs. Binance’s CR7 program also introduced a “Collect to Earn” system, rewarding collectors for accumulating more NFTs.
Partnering with Binance, Ronaldo had launched an NFT collection, marking a multi-year deal that could solidify his position as a major figure in global crypto adoption. The partnership was expected to draw many newcomers to the crypto world, especially when market conditions improve.
However, Ronaldo’s partnership with Binance faced controversy. He faced a class-action lawsuit over his promotion of the cryptocurrency exchange Binance in November 2023. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court in Florida, alleged that Ronaldo’s endorsement of Binance in 2022 led users to invest in unregistered securities, resulting in significant financial losses. The plaintiffs argued that, given Ronaldo’s investment experience and resources, he should have been aware of the potential risks associated with Binance’s practices.
The lawsuit claims that Ronaldo’s endorsement led to a dramatic increase in interest, with searches for the crypto exchange rising by up to 500% following the release of his tokens. However, Ronaldo faced a setback when a U.S. judge refused to dismiss the class action lawsuit against him. On May 4, Judge Roy Altman denied Ronaldo’s request to dismiss the case and allowed the plaintiffs’ request to pause the proceedings while waiting for an arbitration decision. The judge said, “We deny without prejudice the Defendant’s 29 motion to dismiss.”
Binance was leveraging Ronaldo’s global fame to expand its influence, building on existing football partnerships and potentially paving the way for future collaborations with major brands, which have already ventured into the Web3 space.