Japanese soccer star Keisuke Honda launches his own crypto

A Japanese professional soccer player is launching his own cryptocurrency to boost fan engagement.

Keisuke Honda, former Japan midfielder and currently a captain of the Brazilian professional league team Botafogo, has launched his own token to build new connections with his fans, Cointelegraph Japan reported on Oct. 22.

The so-called “KSK Honda Coin” was launched on Thursday via Rally.io, a blockchain platform for creating video streaming and gaming applications. The new coin is intended to enable fans to interact with Honda.

Holders of KSK Honda token will be able to get exclusive content from Honda as well as interact with the player via private channels on Discord. “We decided to create a social token to build new connections with our most loyal fans,” Honda said.

The world-known soccer player said that the new token will allow him to connect with fans in a more open manner, providing a 100% transparency in knowing who holds coins in the fan community.

The global soccer community is moving deeper into the crypto and blockchain industry in search of new ways of connecting stars with their fans.

On Oct. 15, a top soccer club in Russia’s Premier League — Zenit St. Petersburg — signed on to the blockchain-based gaming platform Sorare to issue collectible and tradeable digital cards. In September 2020, Italian professional sports club SS Lazio signed a multiyear deal with crypto trading platform StormGain, enabling new fan engagement options through crypto.