USD Sports buys soccer team in Minas Gerais and intends to turn team into a DAO, based on Ethereum

Kraken Holding Inc, which, among others, is responsible for the development of the USDSports cryptocurrency announced the purchase of Ipatinga Football Club, a team that was once one of the main football players from Minas Gerais, having even been Mineiro Champion in 2005 and semifinalist of the Copa do Brasil in 2006.

The company signed a pre-purchase contract with Ipatinga, however, it has already taken over the management of the club and declared that it intends to transform the team into a Sociedade Anônima do Futebol (SAF; translated to “Football Society”) which will be managed as a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) built on Ethereum.

“It is a very happy moment for us. We have been experiencing turmoil in recent days with uncertainty as to whether or not we would compete in the competition. With the disclosure of the current moment of the club, several companies and entrepreneurs came to us. The USD Sports proposal was the one that most caught our attention and conveyed a lot of security. We managed to advance and at this moment we are already registering athletes so that we can compete in the competition. I’m sure we’ll have new directions from now on and we’ll be back on the national scene as we once did,” said the club’s current president, Nicanor Pires Ataíd.

Marcos Ferraz, CEO of Kraken Holding Inc, declared that the integration of the company with Ipatinga aims to bring the team to the new phase of global football.

“We are going to create decentralized governance through our digital platforms in which all fans and investors will be able to participate and make decisions, together, with power in the palm of their hand. We will invest in the training of new athletes, in the production of content, in a new modern uniform, keeping the history of the team clear, attracting new sponsors, with whom we have already started contact since the signing of the contract and mainly, making the club a regional and state pride.” declared Marcos Ferraz when talking about the plans for Ipatinga.

Ferraz stated that he intends to change the club’s name to USDSports Ipatinga and that the company’s plans aim not only to recover the club’s image, but also to invest in its capital, Kraken in conjunction with USDSports wants to make Ipatinga a model club so that it can once again be recognized as one of the great teams in the state and in the country.

Ipatinga

Club from the interior of Minas Gerais based in Vale do Aço, Ipatinga emerged as a football force in Minas Gerais. With significant titles in its history, the club boasts in its curriculum the conquest of the Campeonato Mineiro in 2005 over Cruzeiro in Mineirão, in addition to having reached the elite of Brazilian football in the first decade of the 2000s, and the semifinals of the Copa do Brasil in 2006.

In 2007, it got access to Serie A of the Brazilian Championship in advance after winning at home over Marília. They ended the season winning the runner-up of Serie B after thrashing the Paulista de Jundiaí team by 5 X 2 away from home.

However, after successful campaigns, Ipatinga found itself in a series of complications both on and off the field and was relegated to the D series of the Brazilian Championship and to the second module of the Minas Gerais championship.

In 2022, before the announcement of the purchase of the team, with scarce financial resources, the club even considered the possibility of closing activities.