The Tokyo Olympics are finally here! After its postponement last year due to the pandemic, the Olympics are at last being held at the Japan National Stadium between July and August this year. Sports and cryptocurrencies appear to have a significant overlap in terms of users and demographics, and this has led to huge sponsorship deals, sports-themed NFTs (non-fungible tokens), and tokenized sports contracts.

In June, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced the launch of its own Olympic-themed NFTs as part of its Olympic Heritage Collection that celebrates the legacy of the world's largest sporting event.

The applications of blockchain technology in the sporting industry are endless, from enhancing interactions, experiences, and engagement, to creating new revenue models through tokenization and improved loyalty programs. Blockchain could also develop new markets for sports betting and collectibles trading while enabling athletes to create loyalty rewards and tokenized income share agreements.

To celebrate the collision of these two worlds and the start of the Tokyo Olympics, globally renowned Singapore-based cryptocurrency exchange Phemex has announced its own dual-sport cryptocurrency trading competition – the Phemex Olympics: United Through Trading. The event includes competitions for two sports – weightlifting, where participants will be ranked based on trade volume, and sprinting, which judges how fast traders can reach a 500% ROI.

crypto-olympian">Become a Crypto Olympian

Whether you're Usain Bolt or Muhammed Ali, there's a lot to be gained from the Phemex Olympics. Depending on the number of participants, the prize pool varies between $23,000 and $48,000. The top ten winners of the weightlifting category can win anything between $500 and $20,000 while also receiving unique mystery box gifts based on their rank.

The traders with the most trading volume in the campaign's duration will be awarded. However, only contract trading volume will be counted. All contract pairs are allowed, and each participant's volume will be displayed on the landing page and updated every ten minutes.

The sprinting competition offers a slightly smaller prize pool of up to $45,000 based on the total participation, allowing contestants to compete to reach a 500% ROI before other users on the platform. Based on rank, the fastest ten participants can win rewards ranging from $500 to $20,000.

However, valid participants must hold at least 0.003 BTC in their trading accounts at the time of registration, and both realized and unrealized PNL will be counted towards users' total ROI. That is, ROI is calculated by dividing individual PNL by the sum of their BTC trading account initial balance, commission incoming made during the event, as well as bonuses received during the same period.

If for some reason no user can reach a 500% ROI, the top ten winners will be ranked based on the highest return instead. If two users simultaneously get a 500% ROI, the user with the higher return will rank higher.

Though APIs are not allowed for the weightlifting competition, API users are allowed to participate in the sprinting contest. Further, the contest is only applicable on the BTC/USD contract pair, and participant ROI will also be displayed on the landing page and updated every ten minutes.o

Like the Tokyo Olympics, the Phemex Olympics competition will be held between July and August. Phemex is holding registrations between July 23 and August 8,and the competition will start with the Tokyo Olympics between July 30 and August 13 at 8AM UTC. Users can participate in both event categories simultaneously, and by August 20, all prizes will be distributed in BTC based on the settlement exchange rates of that day.

Registering batch accounts, generating profits through market manipulation, and using APIs in the weightlifting competition will all result in being disqualified. Only main accounts can participate in the Phemex Olympics, and sub-accounts will not be counted.

Decentralized Networks for Distributed Fanbases

Blockchain and sports may seem like an unusual combination, but they go together a lot more than you'd think. In fact, DLT as a whole could bring a myriad of benefits to the sporting community, including improved incentives and rewards, reduction of collectibles fraud, and amateurs crowdfunding capital to pay for their training.

Blockchain-based loyalty programs can create higher engagement levels and provide real-time payouts and reward redemption by creating cross-partner networks with other brands. The current sports memorabilia industry is valued at around $5 billion, relying on a system of trust to verify each specialty item's authenticity. Blockchain can eradicate this dependency, providing a new way for fans to represent their experiences, participation, and commitment to the sport.

With gaming and E-Sports quickly becoming a crucial area of consumer interest, especially among the younger generations, blockchain could allow for tokenized digital assets that players can trade both within games and on real-world marketplaces. It could also enable real-time sports betting with provably fair outcomes and eliminates intermediaries that would otherwise have taken a cut.

Athletes can also crowdfund their contracts to automatically create a source of funding from community investments. Traditionally, sports financing involves a lot of unfavorable equity loss, capital costs, and lost revenue to third parties. Blockchain-based crowdsourcing platforms, however, enable players to monetize their contracts better and more accurately track the engagement and loyalty of their fans.

The Phemex Olympics is a product of these two industries colliding, and as more users are exposed to the world of blockchain-based tokens and decentralized networks, the better these systems can become. The merging of these two ecosystems will also make sporting a more enjoyable experience for consumers, lowering costs, improving efficiencies, and bettering sports entertainment.