🎙️Crypto Is Just A Small Part of FIFA’s $7B Plan | Pod 185
What’s up everybody, it’s LG Doucet here.
By now you’ve heard the news: crypto is full of assholes!
Last week was considered the darkest moment yet in crypto’s history, and thats saying quite a lot. I don’t want to rehash what happened; I’m honestly sick of hearing about it.
Rather, I want to think about recovery. And how even the worst intentions can result in silver linings and lead to positive change.
Its coincidental that the FTX drama went down at this point in the TFM timeline: right when we’ve relaunched our podcast, and right between two episodes that explore bad actors in the NFT space.
And today’s show is about perhaps the worst actor of all in sports: FIFA.
⚽ Crypto Is Just A Small Part of FIFA’s $7B Plan
Full disclosure: I own some FIFA nfts!
And I’ve tried to get in touch with their marketing team. I want TFM to talk about the project, and I want to meet whoever is behind it.
But my efforts have proven futile. And thus, now that we’ve arrived at the World Cup, quite literally the most watched sporting event on the planet, I have few perspectives to give on their first foray into NFTs.
Rather, I have an expert, Christopher Gaffney, associate professor at NYU, who has spent the last 15-20 years researching urbanization and mega events like the World Cup and Olympics.
And he does not like FIFA.
The numbers to look for in this one:
530,000: how many packs FIFA tried to sell in their first NFT launch
$7 billion: estimated FIFA revenue from this current World Cup cycle
6,500: estimated total of migrant workers that have died working on World Cup stadiums in Qatar.
$554 million: the amount of money FIFA distributed to member nations in 2021, where the expenses are not necessarily audited or accounted for.
$180 million: how much money FIFA made in 2021 on licensing right
$1.2 million: how much they’ve made on NFTs so far.
✍️ICYMI: Why Tom Brady’s $200M NFT Project Is Struggling
This one got a bit wild after it launched.
I spoke to quite a few collectors before dropping it to get quotes and perspective; but that was nothing compared to the response once the pod actually came out!
Although some DID defend the platform (and their bags), the overwhelming sentiment was along the lines of “thank you for finally shining a light here”.
One person even shared me their version of proof of the craziest part of the Autograph platform so far:
That the project leads impersonated Tom Brady in the discord!
Unfortunately, as we found out last week in the broader crypto world, the crypto space is not about to rid of bad actors.
So lets hope for the sake of Autograph that its founders do actually mean well, and will soon right the ship.
The big numbers:
✨Top Hits of 2022
We’ve recorded a lot this year. Here are the top downloaded pods on TFM so far.
🔥 The Blog That Blew Up NFTs | Jonathan Bales
🔥The Future of Crypto Influencers | Space Cowboy
🔥 The History of Crypto Winter
🔥 Crypto Portfolio 101 | Scott Melker
**This is not financial advice. Nothing in this newsletter, podcast, or publication should be considered financial or trading advice of any kind. Please do your own thorough research and make your own trading decisions. This is not advice.”
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