Dutch crypto company Libereum has announced the acquisition of Spanish soccer club Elche CF, who are based in the province of Alicante. The move provides another sign that the crypto world’s interest in sports sponsorship and partnerships is growing.
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Libereum and Elche Share Joint Vision
Libereum, a company which is “primarily aimed at making cryptocurrency widely accessible to the average person,” has put down an initial payment of €4.3 million ($4.9 million) for the Spanish club. The acquisition marks a trend in the crypto world for bringing cryptocurrency to sports with the hope that P2P cash could be adopted as a means of payment in stadiums, club shops, websites and elsewhere.
The acquisition of the club, who play in the Segunda División A (Spain’s second professional association soccer division) is part of Libereum’s plans to bring the club back up to the premier division and make their own cryptocurrency, the liber, an integral part of the club’s financial system. 
“The purchase of Elche CF, a beautiful football club that shares our vision of a cryptocurrency future and is willing to actively communicate it to its supporters, is fantastic news,” Cem Kumlar, the founder of Libereum, said in a statement. “The team has been working very hard to achieve this and I would like to express my thanks to all those who have contributed to this impressive and intensive process.”
Libereum’s main objective is to invest in soccer clubs, with the goal of generating demand for its coin. The company has ambitious goals of overhauling everything from transfer deals and ticket sales to merchandising and stadium catering, aided by cryptocurrency.
Growing Relationship Between Crypto and Soccer
Libereum is not the only company focusing on football in the hope of re-energizing the game with the aid of crypto. In August, investment platform Etoro launched partnerships with seven English Premier League soccer clubs – Brighton & Hove Albion, Cardiff City, Crystal Palace, Leicester City, Newcastle United, Southampton, and Tottenham Hotspur – paying for the deals in bitcoin core (BTC).
The landmark move made the social trading and multi-asset brokerage platform the first company to ever pay for a Premier League partnership in bitcoin. The company has since said its goal is to have the sport fully embrace blockchain technology. U.S. managing director at Etoro, Guy Hirsch, said they were “looking to integrate cryptocurrencies into mainstream football in the near future.”
He added: “Educating the masses on crypto assets will ultimately increase public participation in the market, improving the rate of adoption and providing an incentive for merchants and vendors to begin to accept cryptocurrencies as payment.”
Earlier this year, Gibraltar United decided to introduce cryptocurrency salary payments for its players, while English Premier League club Wolverhampton Wanderers started its season by announcing sponsorship from cryptocurrency exchange Coin Deal.
With the most popular sport in the world being introduced to cryptocurrencies, and NBA basketball teams following suit, it may not be long before crypto is propelled into the big league.
What do you think about Liberium’s acquisition and efforts to bring crypto into the sporting world? Let us know in the comments section below.
Images courtesy of Shutterstock and Liberium.
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