The National Hockey League (NHL) is entering the world of cryptocurrencies with a new line of digital collectibles.
The initiative, called “NHL Breakaway,” was announced in conjunction with Sweet, a platform for non-fungible tokens (NFT) that operates on the Ethereum (ETH) mainnet, which is a standard way of supporting and verifying that digital products are authentic.
The NHL’s move into digital collectibles comes two years after the NFT craze peaked and sports-leagues such as the National Basketball Association (NBA) and National Football League (NFL) embraced digital imprints of star athletes as collectible items.
The market for NFTs collapsed in 2021 and the value of many digital collectibles and pieces of art have declined sharply over the last two years.
Regardless, NHL Breakaway is being heavily promoted by the professional hockey league and in crypto circles. A beta version of the digital collectibles has been tested since April of this year.
According to a press release, NHL Breakaway features a digital “Trade Lounge,” where collectors can trade digital player profiles and highlight their favorite plays or NHL players with other members of the virtual community.
The National Hockey League generates about $6 billion U.S. in annual revenues, according to industry data.
