As predicted by Cointelegraph's Ian DeMartino, it appears that the way we look at sports is already being changed by cyrptocurrencies. And when it comes to sports, none is more popular on the planet than football*, and football fans are the first group of people the soon-to-launch Jetcoin will go after.
In cooperation with Hong Kong cryptocurrency startup incubator Seedcoin, Jetcoin will sponsor Italian Serie A club A.C. ChievoVerona, making it the first pro football team to be sponsored by a cryptocurrency. The club’s other sponsors include local cake-maker Paluani and Volvo.
There are a lot of moving parts to this story, so let’s start with Jetcoin.
What is Jetcoin?
According to Jetcoin’s Facebook page:
“'Jetcoin' is a new digital token issued by the Jetcoin Institute. Jetcoin is a digital loyalty coin for sports fans, enabling them to get rewards from their passion and privileged access to their favorite athletes. Jetcoin Institute is working with partner teams, brands and service providers to offer exclusive deals to jetcoin holders.”
So, the coin is designed to be a loyalty marketing tool, like Pepsi Stuff in the mid-90s.
Little else is available right now about the Jetcoin Institute except that it works with Seedcoin.
“Jetcoin Institute relies on Seedcoin, a pioneer in digital currency startup incubation, and its expertise to build a Jetcoin ecosystem meant to offer jetcoin holders new ways to interact with teams, athletes and creative talent they are passionate about.”
The Jetcoin Institute has said it is “establishing new channels of interaction between fans and athletes.”
So, What Can You Do With Jetcoin?
Again, little information is available right now, though a Seedcoin representative said in a statement that they’re working with Samsung SportsFlow to deliver unique video content to Jetcoin holders.
SportsFlow is a highlight video clip aggregator app that is available on Google Play and Samsung Apps for users in Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.
There has been no word yet from ChievoVerona about their new sponsor, though the club is reeling a bit from a 0-1 loss to Juventus over the weekend to open league play.
*As we serve a global audience, we’re going to default to the globally dominant name for association football.
UPDATE: 9/3/2014
Cointelegraph spoke to a Seedcoin public relations specialist Wednesday morning to get a little more information about the Jetcoin Institute and its coin.
“Jetcoin Institute plans to introduce this Fall its ‘Jetcoin Champions’ program, meant to foster talent in football and other sports,” said Seedcoin PR consultant Gina Dellios, who was speaking on behalf of Seedcoin co-founder Eddy Travia and Jetcoin Institute co-founder Eric A. Ceret.
“This program and the perception of athletes and artists as entrepreneurs striving to build their careers and image have resonated well with the Seedcoin partners.
“Sports and entertainment are industries where large numbers of fans have strong emotional ties to teams, players and artists. We felt that displaying the name of a new digital token brand on a Serie A football field could trigger curiosity from the viewers and willingness to find out more about digital currencies in general.
“A.C. ChievoVerona will assist in having its players and fans use jetcoin. Jetcoin Institute has set up a team to work on applications and tools for jetcoin holders in cooperation with entrepreneurs from Seedcoin startups.
“We are in talks with other football teams in Europe and we hope to find the same enthusiastic response and willingness to collaborate as we have found with the management team of A.C. ChievoVerona. In addition to football, Jetcoin Institute is looking at other sports such as car racing and tennis.”
CORRECTION: 9/3/2014
An early version of our Jetcoin graphic attributed erroneous features to the coin. We have taken down that graphic and fixed the error.
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