Bitcoin makes its way to the Winter Olympics
The 2018 Winter Olympics will be a great topic of conversation for the next two weeks and there is a team that the wide crypto community can follow in South Korea.
Just as Cool Runnings made the first Jamaican sled team famous, the latest edition of the Winter Olympics will see the US sled team become a Bitcoin champion in what could be a first for cryptocurrency in sport.
The USA Luge Foundation has been campaigning for Bitcoin donations on Medium since December 2017. Although they can not use any sponsor logo at the Olympics, the team has promised to promote the eminent cryptocurrency in future competitions, depending on the amount of Bitcoin that they collect.
The team claims to be the first Olympic group in the USA. in establishing your own Bitcoin wallet to accept donations. It is a movement that is synonymous with the spirit of the sled, high speed and full of danger.
Silver medalist and current US marketing director Luge Gordy Sheer said the endowment fund is a logical union.
"You know, we hear a lot of jokes that the lugers are crazy, and people do not know why we do it, but the luge is something that gets into your blood and transforms your life and the Bitcoiners we know know exactly what it is to be in something that the world still does not appreciate, we've looked closely at Bitcoin, and it's definitely a risk reward that we understand and are eager to take on. "
One of the first donors to the USA Luge fund was Ty Danco, former Luge Olympic player and Wall Street investor, who sees the fund as the perfect investment for the next two Olympic winter meetings over the next eight years.
"It's so natural and right for the team, Luge's team is not thinking in the short term, but in the long term, by keeping Bitcoin with the express objective of maintaining it through the 2022 and 2026 Olympics, the sport expects to from being insufficiently funded to being able to support the full teams at the World Cup level at the same time that youth base programs are developed to develop the athletes Bitcoin is still in its infancy, and honors the USA Luge for being Brave and prescient to ride this wave. "
Bitcoin Champions
The team has also promised to include Bitcoin logos and decals in their kit and equipment in the future, depending on the amount of Bitcoin they receive in their fundraising initiative.
5 BTC - The Bitcoin logo will appear on the team caps and souvenir caps.
10 BTC - The above, including the Bitcoin logo stitched to all outerwear of the luge team for the 2018 season (excluding the Winter Olympics)
25 BTC - All of the above, including the Bitcoin logo on the sledges for the next two seasons.
50 BTC - All of the above, with the Bitcoin logo on the sledges during the next four seasons.
100 BTC - All of the above, including the Bitcoin logo on the team's suits for four years (excluding the Olympics).
In a joke, the team promised "Find Satoshi, and upload it to a sled" if they got 21 million Bitcoin, which of course is the maximum amount of Bitcoin that can be mined.
Advertising in sport
While the US Luge team It is not exactly the best known team that competes in the biggest sport, the chances that your fundraising / advertising campaign in Bitcoin could well start a trend for the cryptocurrency community.
The space is full for cryptocurrency advertising and it is surprising that we have not seen more ICOs and more established Blockchain and cryptocurrency companies sticking their brands on all sports teams.
There are already a number of cryptocurrency betting platforms aimed at sports players, which allows people to bet online using cryptocurrency. Along with the strong publicity of various virtual currencies, it would not be surprising to see more of these crypto coins popping up on team shirts, motor vehicles and more.
Seller accepting Ethereum in Pyeongchang
Given that South Korea has been a booming center for the cryptocurrency trade in the last 12 months, you would have expected more sellers to accept virtual currency for their items at the ongoing Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang province.
However, according to Forbes, there is a ski rental shop near the Olympic village that accepts Ethereum as a payment method. Given the low transaction fees and the "universal" nature of Ethereum, it is surprising that more sellers are not doing the same.
As reported by Forbes, it was expected that more vendors would use the Coinduck payment platform, which accepts payments at Ethereum and pays the Korean sellers in turn. Do not expect to hear or see any mention of this during the Olympics, but the fact that people are actively using cryptocurrencies during massive global events such as the Olympics demonstrates the power of technology. Those who have taken the cryptocurrencies can skip the hassle of paying a visit to an exchange house. Transacting with virtual currencies while traveling could become a case of massive use in the future.