BITCOIN will be used to sign a Premier League player in the near future.
That is the prediction from a major global investment platform involved in football.
Premier League transfers could soon be made using bitcoin
However, experts are warning that if it’s not careful the English game could be entering a dangerous and unregulated world – and it could suffer the consequences if it moves too quickly.
Bitcoin is an alternative, virtual currency that can be used to make payments directly between people or companies.
Bitcoin and others like it are known as cryptocurrencies, or ‘cryptos’.
They are seen by many as the future of finance because they do away with all the limitations of transferring money using a bank, such as delays or currency charges.
Every transaction is recorded in a public ledger, known as a blockchain.
Football has been gradually getting involved in blockchain technology, which can be used in a variety of ways.
So far in football the focus has been on bringing supporters closer to their clubs, and the trend has started to accelerate over the last couple of months.
In September 2018, blockchain platform Socios.com unveiled partnerships with Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) and Juventus.
Bitcoin is seen as the future of banking – but transparency may be lostCredit: Getty – Contributor
Nasser Al-Khelaifi’s Paris Saint-Germain joined a partnership with blockchainCredit: Reuters
Fans of both clubs will be able to buy a digital currency called chiliZ and exchange it for Fan Tokens which can be used to vote on club matters such as the team kit.
Then on October 8 it was announced that the Hull City Supporters’ Trust had launched a £45m bid along with the blockchain-based crowdfunding company SportyCo to buy the club from owner Assem Allam.
It was reported that the consortium planned to raise extra funds by launching their own cryptocurrency – Hull City Coin – which fans would use to purchase match tickets and merchandise.
Meanwhile, West Brom striker and former Wales star Hal Robson-Kanu is co-founder of Sports Ledger (SPSL), an innovative platform due to be rolled out next year that features blockchain technology.
Users will be able to exchange SPSL tokens for extra insight into the physical performance of top players, for instance.
As for football transfers, Turkish amateur club Harunustaspor signed a new player using bitcoin in January.
It paid the player 0.0524 in bitcoin (£384.12 at the time) and 2,500 Turkish lira (£467.30).
Harunustaspor claim to be the first football club to have paid for a player with cryptocurrency.
And at the top level of the professional game, the use of cryptocurrencies like bitcoin to sign players might not be far away, according to global investment platform eToro.
Hull City Supporters’ Trust tried to buy the club from Assem Allam using bitcoinCredit: Getty Images – Getty
Hal Robson-Kanu is co-founder of a company that uses blockchainCredit: Getty – Contributor
The company, which enables users to invest in cryptoassets, launched partnerships with seven Premier League clubs earlier in 2018: Brighton & Hove Albion, Cardiff City, Crystal Palace, Leicester City, Newcastle United, Southampton and Tottenham Hotspur.
Each club is promoting eToro, which in return has paid them for the deal in bitcoin.
Iqbal V. Gandham, UK managing director at eToro, told SunSport that the clubs have been keen to explore all the opportunities of blockchain technology.
These could include clamping down on ticket touting, guaranteeing the authenticity of merchandise, and – most significant of all – buying new players with bitcoin.
Turkish amateur club Harunustaspor signed a new player using bitcoin in 2018Credit: Twitter/TurkishFutbol1
“I do feel that within about six to twelve months we will see a player transfer in the Premier League completed using bitcoin,” says Gandham.
He points to numerous benefits, including instantaneous payments, which could help clubs avoid issues on deadline day, for example.
He claims that other advantages include the use of a single currency for international transfers, and greater transparency.
Clubs could make the details of transfers public by simply revealing the wallet addresses (the bitcoin equivalent of bank accounts) involved – including those of the agents.
Gary Wright, CEO and founder of finance think tank B.I.S.S. Research and an expert in financial innovation, agrees that a top flight player could be transferred using bitcoin within the next year.
He told SunSport that cryptos could help clubs avoid issues around the third party ownership of players, for instance.
However, he believes that bitcoin would not make the transfer market more transparent – in fact he says that at the moment it could have the opposite effect.
“Currently, if you do a player transfer in a traditional currency [such as GBP], then that money has to go through a central clearing agency, such as the FA,” he explains.
“They see the money, and there’s some transparency in that they see the agents’ fees. Although they can’t stop it, they can actually see what’s going on. With bitcoin, they wouldn’t see that.”
So with Aaron Ramsey possibly leaving Arsenal in January and Mauro Icardi linked with a move to Chelsea, could bitcoin be used to get them there?
Gandham concedes that with bitcoin you can only see the flow of money involved if you know what the wallet addresses are.
But he believes that clubs may choose to reveal those details, especially for the biggest deals, to show to fans what is going on.
“At many clubs, there seems to be a growing distance between the supporters and the owners,” he says.
Man United ace Chris Smalling ‘in talks with Tottenham and Everton over transfer’ as Woodward demands £16.5m
“The clubs need to regain that trust and bridge that gap again, and I think this is one way of doing it.
“Blockchain technology makes it very easy for them to show the details of player transfers to supporters.
“For example, if you go to a website called blockchain.info, there you can explore anybody’s wallet.
“A club might want to set up a separate wallet for each transfer, for instance.”
But Wright warns that before clubs start paying transfer fees in bitcoin, it is vital that the football authorities like the FA and the Premier League get to grips with it.
“With bitcoin and the blockchain, it’s like the wild west out there,” he says.
“The good is being mixed up with the not so good.
“There is still an underlying fear that bitcoin is used for nefarious activities – money laundering and the like.”
He adds that the volatility in the value of bitcoin makes it “highly risky.”
Without proper regulation around issues such as transparency, he says “you could find that all sorts of people get involved with football transfers and that maybe there’s more money flying out of football, rather than being retained within the game.”
Yet he believes in time that cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology will be commonplace in everyday life, including football.
“At the moment we’re at the beginning of that journey,” he says.
Sancho to Chelsea ‘doesn’t feel like a very Roman Abramovich signing’ says talk SPORT’s Andy Brassell
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
