Football superstar Cristiano Ronaldo has fulfilled his commitment to holders of his nonfungible tokens (NFTs), organizing an exclusive football session despite facing legal actions in the United States.
On January 25th, Binance, the cryptocurrency exchange, released a video featuring Ronaldo playing football with a group of fans and NFT holders. Joining him on the field were fellow Binance endorser Khaby Lame and Croatian footballer Maria Marković. Ronaldo not only engaged with NFT holders but also shared valuable tips to enhance their football skills.
Ronaldo’s association with NFTs began in 2022 when he signed a multi-year NFT partnership and launched his inaugural NFT collection in collaboration with Binance. This partnership aimed to create a series of NFT collections, offering exclusive experiences and interactions with the football legend to NFT holders.
In a press release during the partnership’s launch, Ronaldo emphasized the significance of his relationship with fans and expressed his enthusiasm for providing unique experiences and access through NFTs.
In 2023, Ronaldo continued to promote NFTs alongside Binance, even going through a lie detector test when he unveiled his second NFT collection in partnership with the exchange. During the test, Ronaldo confirmed his ownership of NFTs, affirming the authenticity of his involvement.
However, Ronaldo’s association with Binance’s NFT division attracted controversy, with some alleging that it encouraged investments in unregistered securities on the platform. This led to a class-action lawsuit filed against Ronaldo by users in a Florida district court on November 27th. The lawsuit claimed that Ronaldo had actively participated in promoting unregistered securities in collaboration with Binance.
Despite the legal challenges, locating and serving Ronaldo has proven difficult, as his address in Saudi Arabia remains undisclosed. In response, plaintiffs filed a motion on January 16th, requesting alternative methods of serving notice, including email, X (formerly Twitter), and website publication, citing compliance with international agreements.
