Cricket-Australia board, players sign deal to issue NFTs

MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Australia's cricket board and players union have signed a multi-year licensing deal with Indian startup Rario and digital trading company BlockTrust to issue NFTs (non-fungible tokens).

NFTs are digital assets, often linked to an image, video or sound clip, whose ownership is authenticated by blockchain technology.

Professional sports leagues and teams, including the National Basketball Association and Germany's Bundesliga, have piled into the sector seeking to tap new revenue streams from paying fans and investors.

The cricket deal will pave the way for fans to buy NFTs involving Australian players.

"This is just the start and I have no doubt we will see enormous benefit for fans, players and the sport itself as we build this exciting partnership," CA boss Nick Hockley said in a statement.

Revenue will be shared between CA and former and current players, though the specifics of the deal have not been made public.

Overall NFT sales have totalled about $11.8 billion so far in 2022, according to NFT research firm DappRadar, though the market has slowed in recent months.

Sales on OpenSea, the largest NFT marketplace, declined to around $2.5 billion last month after reaching nearly $5 billion in January.

(Reporting by Ian Ransom; Editing by Peter Rutherford)