The world of sports, on a whole, is gradually making its way into the crypto world, including indoor and outdoor sports like chess, basketball, rugby, and especially football. The FTX crypto cup, the richest virtual online chess tournament with 320,000 dollars prize money will have the most famous Top 10 ranked players in action. The winners will receive prizes in the forms of bitcoins. The prize amount initially rested on 100,000 is probably to fluctuate owing to the nature of bitcoin that is always in a state of constant flux.
The employment of bitcoins as a mode of payment is not a new endeavour in the domain of sports. The English premier league in Southampton already has the option of the club to use bitcoins to pay performance-based bonuses at the end of each season. This allows the club to leverage the new high-growth currency as it can potentially bring numerous future benefits. Besides, NBA franchise Sacramento Kings, in 2014 has been using bitcoins to disburse salaries.
The domain of sports is using cryptocurrency and bitcoin to its advantage. Certain relevant instances that serve as strong evidence of bitcoin usage in sports are:
Southampton
Southampton has already demonstrated its passion for bitcoin when the Watford sleeves bore the logos of bitcoin. They have qualified the Premier League Championship this season.
E-Toro
E-toro has ties with numerous premier league clubs. Iqbal V. Gandham, the UK managing director of E-toro, has expressed his confidence in complete bitcoin incorporation in players. He believes that the high market prices of players are the cause behind this and will also help to eliminate third parties.
The Russia World cup held in 2018 accepted ticket payments in crypto alongside expressing its contentment with the move. The crypto incorporation has enhanced transparency.
Play Magnus Group
The CEO of Play Magnus Group, Andreas Thome, labelled the crypto incorporation in sports as a “path-breaking event”. According to Andreas, the Play Magnus Group has always been passionate about crypto and will continue the celebrate its rapid growth.
The Growth Parallels
To quote Garry Kasparapov, the world’s famous chess player, “ Anything that can offer us the opportunity to take back control or some control of our privacy is always welcome. It’s a response to the shift of power from individuals to states or other institutions that may act on our privacy without our consent. As with any new technology, it’s not inherently good or bad. It depends on who’s using it and for what purpose. You can use nuclear technology to build a bomb or a reactor.”
The incorporation of blockchain technology and cryptocurrency in the realm of sports is an innovative more that stimulates the growth of both the sports industry and the crypto industry on a whole.