Rario is the World’s first officially licensed cricket NFT platform that gives cricket fans the chance to own the game’s greatest moments, trade them with other cricket fans, and become part of an exclusive club in a new digital space.
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As a kid growing up in the 90s, there was a passion for collecting cricket trump cards. Evenings with friends would be occupied by playing those trump cards, feverishly fighting out with one another for acquiring as many trump cards as possible. Acquiring those trump cards would need a certain amount of convincing and bargaining with parents. More the collection, more the number of friends would increase exponentially. Some would agree, some would not. It was a great way to know the player and statistics.
The nostalgia of those moments of cricket trump card collection has now come out in a new avatar in the digital space. Rario, which was launched in August 2021, is a digital cricket collectible platform, where lovers of the sport will be able to buy, sell, collect trade and play with officially licensed digital collectibles ranging from player cards to video moments to cricket artifacts. The dream of transforming a childhood passion into a digital avatar is all due to the vision of Ankit Wadhwa and Sunny Bhanot, co-founders of Rario.
In a short while, Rario has made big noises. They have already tied up with the Caribbean Premier League (CPL), the Lanka Premier League (LPL T20). Recently, they secured a massive coup by partnering with the Abu Dhabi T10 League. This move is in line with a digital revolution that Rario is attempting in connecting fans to the game.
In an exclusive interaction with Sportslumo.com, Ankit Wadhwa stated that Rario’s business was given wings due to the changing dynamics brought about by the coronavirus pandemic. With people being forced to stay at home, consumption patterns have changed.
“We have built our business in coronavirus times. The way we operate the business, is an outcome of accelerated user behavior. What we expected in 2025/26 has happened now. Stepping out has become infrequent. What you can do from home has therefore become important and relevant,” Wadhwa told Sportslumo.com.
The business of sports has changed. The presence of Dream 11, MPL has changed the way how sports interacts with fans. At a time when fantasy games and betting platforms are connecting in a big way, the outlook that Rario has, is to ensure fans have something that they can own and cherish in their journey.
“Merchandise, memorabilia, collectibles, and other non-broadcast revenue have not been large parts of the cricket ecosystem, until now. Our Geography has evolved to be Digital-first. The likes of Dream 11, MPL, and other fantasy leagues have shown that there is more to the sport than just watching it on TV, and fans are enjoying it. We are taking this to the next level by creating additional engagement not just before and during a match, but also between matches,” Wadhwa said.
Wadhwa explained the pattern. “Many sports have a weekend to weekend rhythm, but not cricket. There is extensive cricket for 30 days and then it disappears. If you are following one team, there is a heavy burst of activity and then its silence. Rario engages fans all year round by giving them the ability to buy, collect, trade, and play with digital versions of, what you may recall as, trump cards from our childhood,” Wadhwa said.
When children of the 90s collected trump cards, they had seen it from the point of view of being a worthy collector. In the Digital era, Wadhwa stated that Rario’s NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) have a semblance to the yesteryear Trump cards where the collector having a precious moment will help him appreciate the depth of cricket even more because from a mere collection aspect, the fans will be able to “own” their fandom now.
“Trump cards are our inspiration. However, we are in the digital space. It is important to take advantage of the fact that our cards don’t need to be static. They play videos and may remind you of the cards you would have seen in Harry Potter movies. If you click on a card, they will play videos of memorable in cricketing history. On the back of the cards, you will see badges that will help you identify quality of the moment covered in the cards. We are seeing these badges define the language used by our users.” Wadhwa said.
Wadhwa pointed out there is more to it. “As children, we saw this consumption as an expense. When you look at what we are doing, the core asset is moving from consumption to investment. If you buy art, that money is not sunk. It is not like a movie. This is the behavior that we are testing. These may look like digital trump cards but they are really an art-like asset as well. It is not like you have bought and consumed. We used to play games with each other in trump cards. We would respond, to a certain statistic I selected. Whoever had a higher statistic would win. We are taking it to the next level,” Wadhwa stated.
One look at the Rario website will tell you that the technological effort put in it is massive. Videos in cricket have always been plagued by stringent copyright laws. Acquiring intellectual property rights has always been a major issue. But, Wadhwa has given a transparent way of acquiring these videos. Through negotiations and the adaptation of Blockchain technology, Wadhwa is hoping to change the game.
Blockchain is a system of recording information in a way that makes it difficult or impossible to change, hack, or cheat the system. A blockchain is essentially a digital ledger of transactions that is duplicated and distributed across the entire network of computer systems on the chain. “We are the first officially licensed digital collective platform in cricket. Rario has partnered with tournament organizers, meaning leagues. We are partnering with cricket boards and organizations to license IP and content. Once licensed, we create NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) that are available for sale on our platform. Everything is 100 percent authentic.,” Wadhwa stated.
Talking about Technology, Wadhwa said, “In blockchain, every digital asset has a cryptographic hash attached to it along with the timestamp and transaction data. Hence, it records all the changes that happen to those assets and keeps recording the data as and when the asset changes ownership etc. Since this chain is completely transparent and decentralized, accessible to anyone who is a participant over that network – the data cannot be changed retroactively. If we say, we are coming out with a print run of say 10,000 cards, then 10,000 it is! Any addition/deletion will be visible over the network and we being a blue-chip company are not into that kind of an arrangement. The linkage between the owner and the digital asset will be unique.”
The early boost that Rario has had, has given them wings to fly. The overwhelming response during Rario’s inaugural launch has made it clear that there exists a clear demand among the users and fans, which makes Rario’s journey exciting for Wadhwa. When they launched with their batch of cards initially, everything was sold out in a matter of days. It was sold out in such a way that they could not even prepare their pre-marketing strategy. This has given Wadhwa the confidence to dream bigger in the coming year.
“We are talking with several players and have partnered with some of them as our brand ambassadors. As brand ambassadors, we have Zaheer Khan, Faf du Plessis, Shakib Al Hasan, Smriti Mandhana & Shafali Verma on board with us already. It is an ecosystem where we connect the business and the players on the same platform. It is the only platform that is doing that. Rario is connecting the dots,” Wadhwa said.
Expanding on the future plans, Wadhwa added, “We will be launching in 2022 what will be called The Rario Club. The Rario Club will be a digital space wherein the access will be through ownership of Rario NFT cards. The users will be able to participate in a plethora of rewarding activities. They will be able to showcase/show off their cards; challenge other users based on themed NFT collections or play games with the NFT cards. Consider it like a digital cricket stadium. You can bring in your 11 cards, other user can get their 11 cards and battle it out in the form of a tournament. It is not dependent on a live match. This tournament can be played anytime,” Wadhwa said.
About the further engagement with the Rario cards, Wadhwa said, “We are creating NFTs in a limited quantity of iconic cricketing moments. We will soon be launching Rario Marketplace where the collectors will be able to buy, sell, and trade-in Rario NFTs. We aim to build a robust marketplace where buyer and seller privacy and security of the transaction will be of utmost importance. Marketplace will give collectors an opportunity to obtain any desired NFT that they may have missed out on in the pack drop and make their collection better.”
Rario is an outcome of the digital prowess that has shaped up in sports amidst the coronavirus pandemic. It has given people of the 80s and the 90s a fair bit of nostalgia and fun in the digital world.
