A blockchain-based fantasy cricket platform called Sportiqo has begun operations in India. According to the firm, consumers can purchase or sell players like stocks. The business asserted that it had roughly 32,000 active users as of the beta launch and had received ten crore from angel investors in a pre-seed round.

Currently, the platform is live for the T20 league but have planned to expand further in other sports league, according to the announcement. Explaining the work, the company said they have an algorithm-based performance ranking system that rates each player according to an index based on a range of batting, bowling, and fielding statistics.

It also stated that a user’s chosen players would get cash dividends based on their portfolio’s performance.

Chief product officer and co-founder of Sportiqo, Anindya Kar, said, “India and cricket is a market we really want to explore. This kind of personal interest and audience engagement is unique to cricket here, and transforming that fandom into a stock markets format is a unique proposition. When we launched our company, we were looking for an interactive and entertaining way to engage people while also making it informative so that they get a basic idea of the world of investing and trading,” according to Live Mint.

A stock market analyst, Gautam Duggad, commented, “Educating the youth about investing and trading using cricket is a great idea. India really needs creative options to improve the financial literacy of the masses, and Sportiqo is addressing that gap.”

According to Amrit Mathur, an advisor to the Federation of Indian Fantasy Sports (FIFS), “Cricket fans are passionate, and many have a deep knowledge of the sport and players. I think bringing together the sport, and its fans via this format of fantasy gaming are exciting. It is always fun to get your skin in the game, and developing a simulated stock exchange in the cricket universe is a potent idea.”