Portuguese football sensation Cristiano Ronaldo is facing a class action lawsuit in the US over his promotion of Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world.
The plaintiffs argue that his support caused them to make losses on their investments.
They are suing for “a sum exceeding” $1 billion ($790 million).
Binance unveiled its first “CR7” collection of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in November 2022, in collaboration with Ronaldo, which the footballer stated will reward fans “for all the years of support.”
NFTs are virtual assets that may be bought and sold but have no physical existence; in other words, they only exist digitally. In general, they are used to indicate ownership of anything, such as an image or video on the internet.
“CR7” refers to Ronaldo’s initials and shirt number and is utilized as branding in a variety of items ranging from footwear to fragrances, which have helped him become one of the world’s wealthiest athletes.
Ronaldo informed would-be investors in a social media video announcing the alliance, “We are going to change the NFT game and take football to the next level.”