Buying football players with bitcoin could soon be on the horizon as seven English Premier League clubs began participating in cryptocurrency trials on Monday.
Facilitated by eToro, the popular online trading platform, the trial involves the creation of digital wallets for English Premier League clubs Tottenham Hotspur, Leicester City, Southampton, Cardiff City, Brighton, Newcastle United and Crystal Palace. – with the goal of replacing the pound sterling as the currency for player transfers in the Premier League.
As part of a sponsorship deal, the clubs were paid by eToro to incentivize their participation in the trials.
In an interview with the Daily Telegraph, Iqbal Gandham, managing director of eToro UK, revealed that the payment was made in bitcoin and not pounds:
We've done a sponsorship deal, but rather than pay them in traditional pound notes we've paid them in bitcoin.
He added that the clubs were free to do whatever they wished with the bitcoins.
Etoro also believe the adoption of Bitcoin by sports clubs would help fight ticket scalping and the sale of fake merchandise.
Comments from representatives of Tottenham Hotspur and Brighton indicate that the clubs were happy with the partnership. Paul Barber, the CEO of Brighton FC, said that the trial was a good opportunity for his club to understand the “true potential offered by the blockchain.” Similarly, Fran Jones, Tottenham Hotspur’s head of partnerships, mentioned that his club was keen on being involved with technological innovations.
This is not the first time Premier League clubs have partnered with cryptocurrency businesses.
Arsenal F.C. for example, became official partners of Cashbet, a U.S cryptocurrency business, in January 2018 – in one of several partnerships between crypto businesses and sports organizations.
A frequent refrain of industry experts, these developments add credibility to the claim that cryptocurrency technology is here to stay and will continue to penetrate different fields of endeavor.
