ZK International Through Its Ownership in MaximNFT, Partners With Aces, a Forbes List Of The World's Most Powerful Sports Agents, Launches NFTs for Its Athletes

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Sep 23, 2021, 08:30 ET

WENZHOU, China, Sept. 23, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- ZK International Group Co., Ltd's (Nasdaq: ZKIN) ("ZKIN", "ZK International" or the "Company"), is pleased to announce that, xSigma Collectibles Limited (the "xSigma"), a subsidiary of the Company, has entered into a general partnership with ACES, Inc., a leading US baseball agency, to launch NFTs for their athletes on the MaximNFT platform. MaximNFT is a Non-Fungible Token (NFT) Marketplace and Platform that is being launched by xSigma in an exclusive partnership with the Maxim magazine.

The platform's website is now available at maximnft.com.

Based in Brooklyn, across the street from the Brooklyn Dodgers' offices where Branch Rickey signed Jackie Robinson in 1947, ACES is a sports agency that represents professional baseball players. For the past 7 years, Forbes has ranked ACES among the top 3 most powerful agencies in baseball. For more than 30 years, it has represented players in all phases of their careers and has negotiated over $4 billion in deals. Its founders and owners Sam and Seth Levinson were named by Forbes to Forbes list of "The World's Most Powerful Sports Agents".

Under the partnership agreement, ACES will work closely with MaximNFT and xSigma's team to launch NFTs for their athletes. MaximNFT will provide creative marketing and technical resources to assist ACES's clients in the rapidly growing NFT space.

Peter Pedalino, a principal at ACES, stated, "The NFT Industry is clearly going to be a major component in the future of the Sports Collectible Space. We want to lead in this evolution, and we are happy to have support from the MaximNFT's team on this path."

Jon Orlando, the CEO at MaximNFT, stated, "This is a serious step and a great partnership for MaximNFT to take on. ACES is one of the most powerful baseball agencies and we look forward to revolutionizing the industry of sports collectibles together with them."

The MaximNFT Marketplace will go live this fall with a series of NFTs for celebrities, athletes, and brands, which will be announced soon. Previously, xSigma has entered into an agreement with Maxim.com to rebrand xSigma's Marketplace to MaximNFT. Maxim.com is a monthly men's lifestyle magazine with over 25-years of history and a multi-million reader base that spans 75 countries. Under the terms of the agreement, xSigma's NFT platform will operate under the Maxim brand and will be promoted by Maxim.com.

About MaximNFT.com

MaximNFT is xSigma Collectibles Limited's re-branding of its NFT marketplace in partnership with Maxim.com. xSigma's NFT platform will operate under the Maxim brand and be endorsed and promoted by Maxim.com. MaximNFT targets an actively growing industry of NFTs, which surpassed $2 billion of total sales volume in 2021.

MaximNFT by xSigma seeks to provide the best customer experience and innovative NFT solutions. MaximNFT will allow customers to create and sell NFTs on various blockchains, including, but not limited to, Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain, and Polkadot. Some of the collectibles will come with unique real-world experience, like autograph sessions, photoshoots, dinners and other activities. Furthermore, MaximNFT offers an innovative "NFT tokenization" feature that will allowcustomers to trade fractions of any NFTs in the market.

Maxim is a monthly men's lifestyle magazine with over 25-years of history and a multi-million reader base that spans 75 countries. xSigma believes the Maxim.com team will add significant value to the new NFT Marketplace.

MaximNFT plans to focus on sports and celebrities' collectibles, as well as gaming content. The company is betting on the rise of gaming and utilization of the NFT technology for in-game purchases and collectibles. Additionally, xSigma plans to combine NFT with new AR and VR technologies.

About xSigma

xSigma (including xSigma Corporation and xSigma Collectibles) is a blockchain R&D lab and a wholly owned subsidiary of ZK International. xSigma's team includes world-class developers formerly of Google, Facebook, Ripple Labs, and 1inch. ZK International launched xSigma as a research and development lab in 2018 to solve real- world infrastructure challenges. Its mandate was to explore new opportunities in smart contracts, supply chain management, and other blockchain-based solutions. XSigma has since pivoted to decentralized finance, focusing on decentralized exchanges, stablecoins, and lending protocols.

The research lab is now actively working on its ecosystem of products. The ultimate objective is to build a range of financial tools and products for the flourishing decentralized finance industry. The xSigma team is on the leading edge of blockchain research and development that intersects decentralized finance, supply chain management, IoT, and infrastructure. The DeFi protocol is one of many decentralized finance projects xSigma plans to launch over the next 12 months.

About ZK International Group Co., Ltd.

ZK International Group Co., Ltd. is a China-based engineering company building and investing in innovative technologies for the modern world. With a focus on designing and implementing next-generation solutions through industrial, environmental and software engineering, ZKIN owns 28 patents, 21 trademarks, 2 Technical Achievement Awards, and 10 National and Industry Standard Awards.

ZKIN's core business is to engineer and manufacture patented high-performance stainless steel and carbon steel pipe products that effectively deliver high quality, highly-sustainable and environmentally sound drinkable water to the Chinese, Asia and European markets. ZK International is Quality Management System Certified (ISO9001), Environmental Management System Certified (ISO1401), and a National Industrial Stainless Steel Production Licensee. It has supplied stainless steel pipelines for over 2,000 projects, which include the Beijing National Airport, the "Water Cube" and "Bird's Nest", which were venues for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. ZK International is preparing to capitalize on the $850 Billion commitment made by the Chinese Government to improve the quality of water, which has been stated to be 70% unfit for human contact.

In 2018, ZKIN established its wholly-owned xSigma Corporation to develop innovative software solutions that support its core operations while exploring new opportunities in smart contracts, distributed ledgers, supply chain management NFTs, and blockchain architecture. The xSigma Labs team is made up of world-class developers and engineers formerly of Facebook, Google, Amazon, Ripple and 1inch, most recently launching its first DeFi project in the Fall of 2020.

For more information, please visit www.ZKInternationalGroup.com. Additionally, please follow ZK International on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Weibo. For further information on ZK International's SEC filings please visit www.sec.gov.

Safe Harbor Statement

This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, words such as "may," "will," "expect," "believe," "anticipate," "intend," "could," "estimate" or "continue" or the negative or other variations thereof or comparable terminology are intended to identify forward-looking statements. In addition, any statements that refer to expectations, projections or other characterizations of future events or circumstances are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond the control of ZK International. Actual results may differ from those projected in the forward-looking statements due to risks and uncertainties, as well as other risk factors that are included in ZK International 's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Although ZK International believes that the assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements are reasonable, any of the assumptions could prove inaccurate and, therefore, there can be no assurance that the results contemplated in forward-looking statements will be realized. In light of the significant uncertainties inherent in the forward-looking information included herein, the inclusion of such information should not be regarded as a representation by ZK International or any other person that their objectives or plans will be achieved. ZK International does not undertake any obligation to revise the forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

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Contact Person: Di Chen
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SOURCE ZK International Group Co., Ltd.