MLB’s Trey Mancini Using UREEQA and Chainlink to Launch NFTs for Cancer Research

Monday night’s highly-anticipated NFT drop by Major League Baseball star Trey Mancini on the UREEQA Marketplace presents sports fans, collectors and anyone else with a tremendous opportunity to affordably secure a special NFT with a strong shot at unique real-world utilities while raising money for cancer research and awareness.

In order to protect bidders and buyers and ensure the ultimate level of security and integrity for Mancini’s fixed-price NFT sale, UREEQA — a blockchain platform for protecting, managing, and monetizing creative work — is collaborating with industry-leading oracle solution Chainlink.

The NFTs represent limited-edition digital baseball cards and artwork that leverage smart contracts and Chainlink oracles to guarantee collectors that their digital assets are verifiably rare. Mancini is also going beyond digital memorabilia with his NFT drop, working with UREEQA and Chainlink to add dynamic elements that give fans a provably fair chance to win exclusive prizes.

Mancini is a colon cancer survivor, and all of the proceeds from this week’s sale will go straight to the Trey Mancini Foundation, which aims to support those who are facing illness, empower those suffering from emotional trauma and provide assistance to those experiencing hardship. The sale kicks off Monday at 7 p.m. ET, just before Mancini steps into the batter’s box at Denver’s Coors Field to take part in the 2021 MLB All-Star Home Run Derby. It’s the result of a collaboration between Mancini, Ben Armstrong and Justin Williams of BitBoy Crypto, Matt Rodgers, and the Trey Mancini Foundation, with Steven Polizzi and Haddon McKinney taking part in the design process.

One NFT will be a one-of-a-kind item available via a 48-hour auction, with the winner receiving the actual signed bat Mancini used in the Home Run Derby, as well as signed cleats, signed batting gloves, and a one-on-one batting lesson with Mancini himself as added utility.

Another NFT will be available at a fixed price of $195, with 500 up for grabs. A randomly chosen 100 of those 500 fixed-price NFT purchasers will also receive utility in the form of perks like game tickets, memorabilia, or event access well into the future, ensuring their $195 investment not only helps a worthy cause but could be a gift that keeps on giving from a fan or collector’s standpoint.

In order to ensure that the assignment of special utility to Mancini’s NFTs is a verifiably fair and unbiased process, UREEQA will use Chainlink VRF as its source of randomness. Chainlink VRF (Verifiable Random Function) is a random number generator that anyone can independently audit to confirm that it was not tampered with by insiders or external users, making it a truly random and equal access for everyone relying on it.

Chainlink VRF provides these assurances by generating a cryptographic proof alongside the random number, which verifies the integrity of the process. The UREEQA smart contract responsible for assigning NFT traits will only accept the random number input if it has a valid cryptographic proof, and the cryptographic proof can only be generated if the VRF process is tamper-proof. This provides users with automated and publicly verifiable assurances that the NFT assignment contract is provably fair and tamper-proof.

In addition to a fair auction process, UREEQA’s platform is purpose-built to validate ownership of NFTs and help enforce NFT copyrights. This further adds to the rarity of owning NFTs launched through UREEQA, making them truly special and valuable to own. By bringing together digital collectibles, fair distribution mechanisms, and a touch of randomness, a gamified NFT experience is created to the benefit of those both launching and supporting social causes.

“It’s incredibly worthwhile to showcase how blockchain, oracle, and NFT technology can combine to enhance society’s ability to launch and support social good initiatives,” stated Daniel Kochis, Head of Partnerships at Chainlink Labs. “It’s why we’re excited to collaborate with UREEQA and the Trey Mancini Foundation to create a gamified NFT solution that auctions off unique digital memorabilia to fund support for those battling cancer yet adds an element of provably fair randomness to reward lucky participants with unique fan experiences and bonus memorabilia.”

UREEQA CEO Harsch Khandelwal went on to say “Trey’s incredible will to not only live but compete in the major leagues soon after a cancer diagnosis is truly inspiring. We’re excited to work with Chainlink to launch dynamic NFTs that support the Trey Mancini Foundation, enabling fans to support cancer research in more fun and memorable ways while Trey is able to further his mission of inspiring those affected by cancer.”

About Chainlink

Chainlink is the industry standard oracle network for powering hybrid smart contracts. Chainlink Decentralized Oracle Networks provide developers with the largest collection of high-quality data sources and secure off-chain computations to expand the capabilities of smart contracts on any blockchain. Managed by a global, decentralized community, Chainlink currently secures billions of dollars in value for smart contracts across decentralized finance (DeFi), insurance, gaming, and other major industries.

Chainlink is trusted by hundreds of organizations, from global enterprises to projects at the forefront of the blockchain economy, to deliver definitive truth via secure, reliable oracle networks. To learn more about Chainlink, visit chain.link and subscribe to the Chainlink newsletter. To understand the full vision of the Chainlink Network, read the Chainlink 2.0 whitepaper. Want to discuss an integration? Talk to an expert.

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About UREEQA

UREEQA (https://www.ureeqa.com/) is a blockchain-based platform dedicated to building a robust Package of Proof for minting validated NFTs that represent creative rights. Creators can securely upload and store their content on UREEQA and submit their content to the UREEQA Premium Protected Collection for added protection. An NFT will be minted for each creation that is validated on UREEQA and it will serve as the creator’s immutable claim to their work. Each NFT will be tied to a creator’s Package of Proof stored on the blockchain, which will document authenticity and ownership.

Disclaimer:

Statements in this article, including any statements relating to UREEQA’s future plans and objectives or expected results, may include forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on numerous assumptions and are subject to all of the risks and uncertainties inherent in technology development and commercialization. As a result, actual results may vary materially from those described in the forward-looking statements.