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The National Women’s Soccer League Secures Multi-Year Deal With Voyager

The National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) has signed a multi-year deal with crypto platform Voyager Digital to become the latest league to step into the space.

What This Deal Means For All Those Involved

One of the fastest growing crypto platforms, Voyager, has now entered the soccer world for the first time at this level, and this is big news for those who are keeping an eye on the Voyager platform and token. CEO Steve Ehrlich had an interview with CNBC this past week, and he spoke on his excitement to enter a new world and connect people in crypto through sport.

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“We see this as an opportunity to really engage with the NWSL player, fan and that community in a way that nobody has before,” Voyager CEO Steve Ehrlich said. “What’s really intriguing to me is engaging with women’s sports, and that’s a very important aspect for us because it’s a market that we believe is ripe for education and an opportunity to give these women a stronger foothold on their financial future through crypto.”

Ehrlich added, “we are extremely proud to partner with the NWSL, specifically to help the league grow and provide its players with crypto education and direct financial support, paid in crypto,” . “We believe strongly in the future of these players and this league, and we can’t wait to get started.NWSL interim CEO Marla Messing said in a statement.”Voyager’s investment in the league is especially innovative because we’ve collectively designed the partnership to include direct financial resources for every one of our players, as well as education on the revolutionary changes underway in digital assets,”

Voyager’s token, VGX, has not responded dramatically to the news around the NWSL partnership, but looks to be finding a new support level. | VGX-USD on TradingView.com
Scoring A Goal Through Soccer

Many other sports franchises and teams have partnered up with specific wallets, exchanges, and blockchain-focused companies lately. What makes this special is the fact women’s soccer will be a focal point for Voyager’s push in sports, especially given the NWSL’s recent growth. In a heavily male-dominated crypto landscape, the partnership will help further the development of having more women involved in crypto.

Women’s sports gets put in shade, but women’s soccer happens to be something that is too big to not see lately. Steve Ehrlich concluded his conversation with CNBC with more statements talking about the importance of this deal.

A “significant portion” of the investment that Voyager is making in the NWSL as part of the deal will create a fund that will be split across each player and put into their own individual Voyager crypto account, Ehrlich said, declining to provide specific financial details. Players will also receive financial education on crypto from Voyager.

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Top Australian Baseball Club To Pay Players In Bitcoin

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are increasingly making appearances in the world of sports. The latest team to enter the cryptocurrency world is Australian Baseball League club Perth Heat. On Wednesday, the club announced that it integrated crypto payments into its operations. The Heat said they had partnered with OpenNode to accept and send Bitcoin payments powered by the Lightning Network.

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The Baseball club is one of Australia’s most successful teams, having won four ABL championships since the league’s formation in 2010. It claims it is the first professional sports club in the world to fully embrace the digital currency.

Perth Heat Integrates Bitcoin Payment

The baseball club has rebranded itself to be called “the Bitcoin baseball team.” 

As part of the partnership with OpenNode, Perth Heat is setting Bitcoin as the new standard for payments and payouts. Players and staff will get their pay in Bitcoin, although it is not mandatory. Players can still be paid in traditional fiat or partially in Bitcoin. However, the club’s CEO, Steven Nelkovski, said that all current employees of the club were on board with the scheme.

BTC trading at $59.55K | Source: BTCUSD on TradingView.com

“By embracing the underlying values of the Bitcoin protocol, we believe that the organization can reach new levels of success both on and off the field and remind the world of the true value of sports. We know the community looks to the Perth Heat as a model of success and we hope our adoption of a Bitcoin Standard will inspire others to embrace a monetary system that demands value creation to thrive,” said Nelkovski.

As part of its Bitcoin adoption efforts, the club also plans to “Hodl Bitcoin on the club’s balance sheet.”

Patrick O’Sullivan, Perth Heat’s new Chief Bitcoin Officer, shed more light on the club’s latest strategic move. He said it is a way of securing its digital property rights on the world’s most secure monetary network.
“We believe the world has begun to recognize the power of sound money principles and are determined to lead from the front. This is not a one-off purchase to hedge against future uncertainties or inflationary pressures. The Perth Heat are embracing the reality that the future of money and corporate treasuries will live on the Bitcoin blockchain.”

The club will also accept Bitcoin payments for sponsorships, merchandise, and ballpark concessions on game days.

Crypto Regulation In Australia

Australia has made big crypto moves this year. It has one of the highest crypto adoption rates in the world. This could be due to the country’s aim to become crypto-friendly. In line with this, regulators are making laws to regulate cryptocurrencies in different sectors.

Last month, Australian senators wrote a report pushing for an overhaul of finance and tax regulations to make the country a global crypto hub.

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The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) also recently gave the green light to a range of cryptocurrency-related ETFs. This approval could see Bitcoin and Ethereum-backed investment funds trading on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) soon.

Additionally, Commonwealth Bank announced its partnership with US-based crypto exchange Gemini and blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis. It will become the first major Australian bank to offer crypto services to its customers, which it plans to launch in 2022.

Featured image by GettyImages, Chart from TradingView.com

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Visa Issues NFT Report After Buying CryptoPunk, Cites Ethereum & Flow Blockchains

Visa is showing some bullish behavior around NFTs. As reported on at our sister network Bitcoinist today, Visa made a splash by purchasing a CryptoPunk to kick off the week. The purchase was made late last week for around 49.50 ETH – approximately $150,000.

The company is showing clear optimism on the future of the NFT market. If that purchase wasn’t enough to convince you, the firm also released a new NFT report.

“Crypto And Commerce”

The brief report can be found as the latest white paper to feature the company’s crypto research tab on the Visa.com website.

Titled “NFTs: Engaging Today’s Fans In Crypto And Commerce,” the report positions NFTs as having “vast potential in the sports and entertainment world.” While many early NFT projects are bound by a sense of community, a unique identity, or early adopter positioning, there is also no question that NFTs have massive potential in being the next wave of sports collectibles. Of course, with the recent CryptoPunk purchase, it’s clear that Visa understands that the potential goes well beyond just collectibles.

Nonetheless, the report goes on to provide a fundamental layout of what NFTs are, and why collectors, fans, teams, leagues, and talent are finding them attractive.

The FLOW blockchain is highlighted with Ethereum in the latest Visa report. | Source: FLOW-USD on TradingView.com

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Lay It All Out There

The report goes on to talk about various NFT use cases, including in sectors like art and gaming (our team emphasized the importance of project use case in a recent Altcoin Evolution report). Additionally, the analysis highlights Ethereum and Flow blockchains as pivotal players in the NFT space.

The document approaches it’s close by laying out the importance of storage and access, and highlights the different types of marketplaces that can be utilized for distribution.

In sports particularly, the end of the Visa document outlines several different verticals that the company sees as notable areas of potential: loyalty and gamification, utility across metaverses, ticketing, fan governance and decision-making, and fan data with pseudo-anonymity. Indeed, several of these verticals are already seeing fruitful growth (fan tokens, for example, are already empowering fans across different sports and teams to have a say in impactful decisions).

The final ribbon on the report outlines some anticipated considerations and risks, including environmental impacts, fees, and licensing, legal, and regulatory considerations. The company also makes note to highlight emerging efforts in crypto, including Visa Crypto APIs, blockchain research from the firm, and their own Digital Currency Innovation Hub.

As per the aforementioned Bitcoinist article, the Visa wallet data from OpenSea has been gifted a variety of NFTs. Visa of course knows that “innovations such as crypto and NFTs are likely to shape sports, entertainment, and other communities going forward.”

What will be the next big purchase for the Visa wallet?

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The Soccer Club That’s Offering Ownership Via NFT

Thought you’ve seen it all in NFTs? Think again. Sure, we’ve seen digital art collectibles, even some with tangible assets intertwined. Recently, we’ve even seen NFTs including things like patents and Nobel Prize-winning invention documentation. Today, Liga MX franchise Club Necaxa announced their intent to offer something especially unique via NFT – team ownership.

Bidding Is Big: Club Necaxa

The soccer club is fresh off the heels of selling nearly half the franchise; the recent sale valued the franchise in the “low nine figures” according to a Sportico report. The sale was also noteworthy in that it was US investors first venture into what’s described as “the NFL of Mexico”. Real estate investor Al Tylis and DC United executive Sam Porter spearheaded that effort. Major capital investors from NBA players like Shawn Marion, Richard Hamilton, and Victor Oladipo, along with other names in sport such as Justin Verlander and Mesut Ozil joined in with the ownership group as well.

With regards to the purchase, Tylis said that “sports are effectively media properties, and I saw something a while back that I found relatively shocking: In the U.S. alone, more people watch Liga MX than Major League Soccer and Premiere League combined – it was just an unbelievable number to me.”

Tylis has recognized the NFT ‘buzz’ as well, acknowledging that the attention in such a unique NFT listing certainly was part of the draw. The decision was “absolutely a way to generate interest” in Necaxa and noted that they are “adding something unique, and which has never been done before” in implementing an NFT with club ownership.

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OpenSea runs on the Ethereum network, and will be host to Necaxa's initial club token sale. | Source: ETH-USD on TradingView.com

The Club Necaxa Token

The one-of-one token is set to go up for auction in the days to come, and will run until June 18th. The franchise has said that it will carry permanent equity, not subject to dilution or future capital calls. The 1% ownership will always be 1%. The token will be listed on OpenSea and will remain transferrable after initial sale. Blockchain consultancy B9Labs worked with the franchise in launching the token, which is expected to launch with a $1.3M starting ask price.

Beyond franchise ownership, the club’s token will also allow the owner access to club facilities, tickets for both home and away games, and any championship rings that the club wins.

While many soccer clubs have been looking at, or engaging with, ‘fan tokens’ – often launched by companies like Socios, Necaxa is turning the dial up a notch here. Digital presence, meet tangible ownership.

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Featured image from Pixabay, Charts from TradingView.com