As Swiss Blake reported, the three-time Grand Slam champion participated Stan Wawrinka In the NFT virtual tennis game “Ballman Project” he also served as a figurehead. After the cryptocurrency project has failed so far, the 39-year-old Swiss is threatened with a lawsuit from frustrated investors.
By Dietmar Kaspar
Last edited: May 2, 2024 at 6:15 pm
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The new “Ballman Project” quarter-round tennis game should be quite trustworthy for tennis-loving cryptocurrency investors, especially in Switzerland. None other than three-time Grand Slam winner Stan Wawrinka is emblazoned on 'ballmanproject.io', which is still available, to lift the US Open winner's trophy. Even if the 39-year-old's participation status is described as “inspired by Stan Wawrinka,” he invites the tennis-savvy NFT investor to get involved right away: “I'm playing on Ballman! Get in the game.”
But the approximately 2,600 investors have completely lost interest in the game, in which participants are supposed to buy players worth between 200 and 600 francs and benefit from the winnings of virtual tournaments. The project founders are said to have earned nearly four million euros in cryptocurrencies, but the game's participants only suffered losses. This is what one of the participants said on the Swiss “RTS” radio: “The playing value of my “Balmain” decreased from 318 to 12 francs. Where did the 4 million allocated for the project go?
In response to the broadcaster's question, French businessman Prosper Masculier-Bartouche commented: “We are not succeeding in terms of visitor numbers and we have not achieved profitability.” However, the 43-year-old wants to stick with the project and keep the game available.
Investors are particularly disappointed with Davis Cup winner Stan Wawrinka, who reportedly earned $440,000 in the cryptocurrency Ethereum for his work. He defends himself by saying: “I was made advance payments and paid for my image and the time I invested in the project,” however, it remains questionable whether Wawrinka was involved in the project only temporarily. According to the French commercial registry, he is one of the major shareholders in the company behind the game. However, frustrated investors don't want to give up on the game just yet and are planning to file a class action lawsuit against the project.
With all this noise off the field, things are not at all smooth for Wawrinka on the sporting level. In the current season, the veteran has not been able to win more than one match in the tournament, and after his opening defeat to Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas in the high-profile ATP Challenger tournament in Aix-en-Provence, France, he came away with a huge victory. Only two wins this season.
This is the single painting from Aix-en-Provence
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