São Paulo FC, one of the biggest clubs in both Brazil and the world football, has made history by becoming the first Brazilian team to accept bitcoin (BTC) and altcoin payment for match tickets.
As reported, the club announced that it would begin the program late last month after striking a deal with the Brazilian arm of the Mexican crypto exchange Bitso. That latter became one of the club’s sponsors in January, with the two parties striking a three-year partnership deal, but decided to take their relationship to the next level in late May.
The deal allows fans to buy home tickets for games played at the Morumbi Stadium using BTC and other coins – using an interface provided by Bitso. As well as BTC, fans can pay in dogecoin (DOGE), shiba inu (SHIB), bitcoin cash (BCH), ethereum (ETH), wrapped bitcoin (WBTC), litecoin (LTC), and five USD-backed stablecoins including DAI.
The crypto pay program is currently only available for official fan club members, the club revealed on its members’ Twitter account, but the general public will also be able to make use of the Bitso payment options in the near future, multiple media outlets have reported.
The identity of the first fan in Brazil to buy a ticket using cryptoassets was revealed as a supporter named Fábio Gloeden Brum. The latter bought match tickets using bitcoin, and Marca reported that Gloeden Brum was awarded an official São Paulo FC NFT as a commemorative gift.
Bitso stated that allowing fans to buy tickets “with cryptocurrencies” was “one of our main goals since the beginning of the partnership with the club,” while São Paulo FC claimed that the move proved that the team was at the “forefront of innovation” in the Brazilian footballing space.
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