The adoption of bitcoin (BTC) payments in the UK has just recruited a new player. Oxford City Football Club aims to become the first National League football club to accept matchday payments in BTC when the season begins on August 6.
Fans will be able to purchase tickets, food and drinks at Oxford City FC’s RAW Charging Stadium with bitcoin via the Lightning Network. Traditional payment methods such as cash and card are still accepted.
Oxford City Football Club (OCFC) currently play in the sixth division of English football, the National League South. The club has established a multi-year partnership with CoinCorner, an Isle of Man-based bitcoin company. CoinCorner will be the club’s back-of-shirt sponsor and have launched a limited edition Oxford City FC Bolt Card to mark the occasion..
The Hoops, as they are known locally, will sport a BTC logo on the back of their match shirts as part of the partnership between CoinCorner and the team. CoinCorner is also the official sponsor of the opening match of Oxford City FC (OCFC) on August 6.
The same dayPeter McCormack’s pro-bitcoin football club, Real Bedford will accept bitcoin for match day tickets. However, the Bedford side play in a lower local league, the Spartan South Midlands League.
CoinCorner CEO Danny Scott explained that the OCFC is the “first adopter of bitcoin payments in the National League”. Scott went on to say that:
“We believe this move will set a trend across all divisions of the Non-league and Football League as digital currency establishes itself as the new normal for sports fans and event attendees across the UK.”
Bitcoin advocate and founder of OxBit — the Oxford Bitcoin meetup — Coach Carbon explained to Cointelegraph how the deal came about. ANDn December 2022, the OCFC organized the Bitcoin Ballers Winter Cup festival, a football day focused on bitcoin.
Since then, OxBit has organized several meetups on the club grounds and Carbon continues to advocate for bitcoin adoption in the city.. Carbon managed a relationship with the football club’s new commercial director and shared “many informal discussions about engaging and helping the community through events and education.”
“A three-way call was arranged and things progressed from there once the football club understood and could see the impact that CoinCorner could have in regards to bitcoin education and adoption.”
At the club, Justin Merritt, director of football for Oxford City FC, explained: “More than 3.3 million people living in the UK now own bitcoin – an increase of around one million people in the last year alone“.
Cointelegraph reported in June 2021 that according to an FCA report, up to 2.3 million Britons own BTCwhile a Coinbase report expanded that figure to a third of Britons are curious about crypto. Merritt went on to say that:
“It’s not mandatory for people to commit to our new technology, but we believe that over time paying via bitcoin will become the new normal in English football.”
Across the UK, mass adoption of bitcoin is growing, while Edinburgh hopes to host a Bitcoin conference in October this year.
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