São Paulo will start accepting cryptocurrencies in Paulistão. Photo: SPFC.
São Paulo Futebol Clube (SPFC) will be the first football team in the world to accept cryptocurrency when purchasing tickets. The expectation is that this will be possible in the Paulista Championship, which starts this month. This is part of an agreement between the club and the Mexican cryptocurrency exchange Bitso, which as of this month is the team’s new sponsor. Other cryptocurrency actions are expected to follow, said Eduardo Toni, executive director of marketing at SPFC.
For the purchase with cryptocurrencies, the operation will be from the company that sells the tickets with Bitso. There will be conversion from cryptocurrency to fiat at the time of purchase. The publicity deal with the exchange is the club’s second crypto initiative. In November, SPFC launched its fan token on the Socios.com platform.
On Bitso’s side, the agreement with SPFC is part of the company’s strategy to expand the use of cryptocurrencies in the sports sector, said Beatriz Oliveira, marketing leader for Latin America at the exchange. Therefore, he also wants to act in other types of sports. Bitso claims to be the largest exchange in Latin America, with 3.7 million users. According to the executive, the cryptos that fans will be able to use will also be disclosed.
São Paulo wants to encourage the use of cryptocurrency among fans
The agreement with São Paulo also provides for a space for more than 18,000 people in the stands for Bitso fans. The partnership, according to Toni, “may include, for example, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), acceptance of cryptocurrencies in restaurants inside the club and even the discussion of having the name of the brokerage in the stadium. The contract will last three years and there was no disclosure of values, but there are rumors that it would be R$ 40 million. bleachers for Bitso fans.
According to Toni, São Paulo’s fans are 20 million people and that they should adhere to the use of cryptocurrency if there is education about it. “We will focus on this educational part.” It will be a joint work with Bitso, he said.
Bitso announced its arrival in Brazil a year ago. So, enter a segment of growing competition in Brazil and with another local unicorn, the Bitcoin Market. The exchange also operates in Argentina and Colombia.