- NEAR’s new partnership with the ICC marked an important step forward in real-world utility.
- It might pave the way for more NEAR adoption in the future.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) is exploring the use of blockchain to improve customer engagement in the sport. The ICC thus plans to use NEAR Protocol [NEAR] to achieve that objective, in a move that could potentially boost the latter’s popularity.
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The official X (formerly Twitter) account of the Near Protocol confirmed the news on 30 September. Notably, the ICC has selected the protocol as its blockchain of choice due to its strong WEB3 presence.
The cricket organization stated that it is exploring ideas through which it can develop valuable and lasting experiences for fans. This may also include competitions for fan engagement with players.
ICYMI: The NEAR Foundation partners with the @ICC 🏏
Whether you can explain the rules of cricket or not, this is set to knock the fan engagement experience in sports for six 🎉 https://t.co/Gk92ZIC3Vl pic.twitter.com/cBLZYTbGWZ
— NEAR Protocol (@NEARProtocol) September 29, 2023
While it is interesting that the ICC is embracing blockchain, it is even more interesting that it has selected NEAR Protocol. This could be a big deal for the blockchain, considering that cricket has one of the largest fan bases of any sports league in the world, at 2.5 billion fans.
The development may offer NEAR network some benefits, especially in terms of visibility. The protocol’s social dominance has recently been slipping downward.
The announcement about NEAR’s new partnership with the ICC may offer a chance for a pivot in the network’s social dominance.
Source: Santiment
A collaboration with one of the major sports leagues in the world is certainly a significant achievement. This could potentially encourage more collaborations in the future, thus potentially boosting demand for the NEAR token.
Assessing the state of NEAR’s demand
NEAR has been on an overall bearish trajectory since February this year. There was a bullish attempt between mid-June and mid-August, which was short-lived as the price resumed its bearish trajectory.
Bears have notably been losing their momentum since August, indicating that we may witness another bullish rally attempt sometime soon.
NEAR exchanged hands at $1.18 at the time of writing after rallying by over 5% in the last three days. An extended rally beyond this level could indicate that the bulls were gaining momentum.
This is because the cryptocurrency has been struggling to secure enough demand to exit the low range at press time.
Source: TradingView
Read Near Protocol’s [NEAR] Price Prediction 2023- 2024
Despite the bullish 3-day performance, other observations do not indicate the possibility of more bullish pressure. For example, the MFI appeared to have flat-lined, suggesting that there was very little liquidity pushing up the price at press time.
However, on-chain data suggested that there was some optimism, as indicated by the slight upside in the weighted sentiment metric at the time of writing. The network has also maintained healthy development during the last four weeks.
Source: Santiment
