The best game in the world, football just got better with Portuguese champions Benfica announcing that they will be accepting Bitcoin and Ethereum payments.
This is an unprecedented move in the Portuguese primera liga, since fans will from next season be able to pay for match tickets as well as club jerseys and other merchandise in crypto-currency. The Portuguese champions are not the first football club to be involved in crypto-currency since Italian Champions Juventus, as well as French champions PSG have both flirted with crypto-currencies in the recent past. Juventus even went as far as flirting with the idea of launching their own club token.
Benfica’s move is much more significant for crypto though, since they are the set to be the first major club to accept crypto payments. Fans will be able to transact in crypto at the club’s stadium- The Estadio da Luz- and access their favorite club merchandise. Benfica’s move towards embracing cryptos is courtesy of crypto payments processing firm, UTRUST, which uses its own ETH- based token UTK.
According to a UTRUST press release:
“UTRUST’s core technology will allow Benfica to take advantage of the increased security and convenience of crypto-currency payments while protecting the club from market volatility. It will also significantly reduce processing fees and eliminate inconvenient credit-card chargebacks and fraudulent payments.”
The football club’s CEO Domingos Soares de Oliveira said that the club warming up to crypto-currencies was born out of a need to stay ahead of the curve.
“We recognize that many of our supporters are now digital users first so we want to be ahead of the curve when it comes to accepting novel technologies.”
Benfica’s move to accept crypto payments may be unprecedented, but it is one in a string of football links with crypto-currency. A number of football personalities have in the recent past been known for associating themselves with crypto-currencies. One such personality is the former manager of this year’s champion’s league runners up Tottenham Hotspurs, Harry Rednapp, who pumped a crypto-currency on his Twitter. Another such personality is Brazil and Barcelona legend, Ronaldinho, who went on to launch his own crypto token.
It’s no surprise that crypto players are interested in making headway into the world of football considering the Billions of viewers the sport attracts. The Portuguese champions alone have about 14 million followers all over the world, and about 7 million active fans, this speaks of the clubs rich history and prestige. The Estadio da Luz has a capacity of about 65,000 fans a week, which will definitely translate to a lot of capital streaming into the two crypto-currencies Ethereum and Bitcoin. Talk about adoption!!
Image Courtesy of Twitter.com
