Today in Crypto: FIFA Builds NFT Platform for Soccer Fans; Meta Begins EU Campaign to Tout Real-World Potential of Metaverse

FIFA will be debuting a non-fungible token (NFT) platform to offer digital collectibles portraying the best game moments in soccer, Bitcoin.com reported.

The platform will likely open later in the month and will come with several initial collections of tokens along with more to be released later, according to the report.

In other news, Meta said in a blog post the metaverse could have “a real impact” on the digital economy for Europe, potentially associated with $440 billion in contribution to the region’s gross domestic product (GDP) within a decade, if adoption grows similarly to mobile technology.

Meta said there’s still quite a lot of work to do, explaining that reaching its potential will come with “collaboration across industries and with experts, academics, civil society, governments and regulators to get it right.”

Meanwhile, cryptocurrency’s status in Britain could be changing soon as Liz Truss has won the race for prime minister there, which leaves everything uncertain as to new policies for digital assets, Bloomberg reported.

Truss has been tight-lipped so far about what she might have planned for virtual currencies, according to the report.

She bested ex-Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak, who had been a champion for crypto in that role. Sunak had a plan to revive the United Kingdom’s reputation as a leader in financial tech, including calling for stablecoins to be regulated like nonbanks, crypto infrastructure to be embraced, and the creation of a new NFT by the U.K. Royal Mint, the report stated.

Truss will inherit a new government, including a cost-of-living crisis and a recession, so it’s unknown what will happen with crypto, according to the report.

Additionally, Michael Saylor, formerly CEO of MicroStrategy, is looking into solutions to onboard large numbers of people into the Lightning network, CoinDesk reported.

The Lightning network is a payment network on top of bitcoin, which is purported to help with faster and cheaper transactions.

Saylor stepped down as CEO of MicroStrategy Aug. 2 but wanted to keep working on the company’s software business. Now, it looks as if some of that business will help people access bitcoin easier, possibly increasing its value.

Finally, crypto lender SALT could be looking into a buyout after being charged for operating an unregistered initial coin offering (ICO) two years ago, Blockworks reported.

SALT lets users take out crypto-backed loans and said it was talking to digital asset and FinTech investment platform Bnk to the Future (BF) as of Friday (Sept. 2), according to the report.

BF has signed a letter of intent to acquire the company, the report stated. SALT said the deal would boost its suite of products, adding that customers’ loan terms, security and services would not change if the deal happened.

For all PYMNTS crypto coverage, subscribe to the daily Crypto Newsletter.