The Litecoin Foundation is partnering with premier kickboxing league Glory to become the official cryptocurrency for its online merchandise platform and international events. The news was announced in an official press release from Litecoin on Feb. 26.
Glory — which has signed top kickboxing heavyweights including “Dutch Lumberjack” Peter Aerts and Remy Bonjasky, aka “The Flying Gentleman” — will integrate Litecoin (LTC) into its online merchandise store, gloryshop.com. The league will also allow fans in the United States and Europe to use the cryptocurrency to purchase various Litecoin-exclusive, event-related privileges. These include “athlete meet-and-greets, backstage arena tours [...] and premium in-arena seating.”
Charlie Lee, founder of the Litecoin Foundation, gave his perspective on the partnership's potential to drive cryptocurrency adoption:
“GLORY has a growing worldwide fan base that consists in large part of a younger demographic who are early adopters of technology and conduct much of their lives online - from consuming content to purchasing products. [...] Tapping into their global audience and educating them about Litecoin through real world use cases can be powerful.”
The kickboxing league was founded in 2012 and is operated by Glory Sports International — hosting global events for a mix of combat disciplines including Karate, Muay Thai, Taekwondo and boxing. Maintaining offices in Los Angeles, Denver, Amsterdam and Singapore, Glory’s media coverage reportedly spans over 200 worldwide territories.
The partnership with Litecoin determines that the cryptocurrency will receive exposure across Glory events, broadcast and social media, the press release states.
Whereas the Litecoin-Glory venture brings a cryptocurrency with established industry clout into the global sports arena, several high-profile sports clubs have moved to launch their own proprietary crypto tokens.
In fall 2018, French soccer club Paris Saint-Germain — which has been hailed as the country’s “most popular” team — partnered with blockchain platform Socios.com to incentivize and monetize fan engagement and experiences via a token ecosystem.
In December 2018, Brazilian premier league soccer club Atletico Mineiro launched an Ethereum (ETH)-based, fiat-pegged utility fan token, GaloCoin, named after Atletico’s mascot — a rooster (“galo” in Portuguese).