Report: Blockchain Sports Platform Will Not Buy English Football Club With Crypto

Decentralized sports investment and funding firm SportyCo will reportedly not purchase English Championship football club Hull City AFC, the Next Web reported on May 1.

Sources familiar with the matter reportedly told the Next Web that the deal price appeared to be too high when disclosed to investors supporting SportyCo’s bid. Sources reportedly said that the price was “higher than the real market valuation.”

Last October, sports-focused media outlet SportsPro reported that SportyCo partnered with the Hull City Supporters Trust (HCST), an organization founded to represent fans and strengthen the link between the club and the local community it serves, to launch a £45 million ($58.8 million) bid to buy the club.

However, Geoff Bielby, chairman of HCST, reportedly told the Next Web that the organization’s involvement in the bid was misunderstood by some journalists. “We are not leading the bid, [we’re] simply a partner representing supporters,” he said. Bielby also revealed that HCST’s intention to buy the club with cryptocurrency is not true.

As recently reported, London-based West Ham United — a soccer team that plays in the English Premier League — partnered with blockchain platform Socios.com to launch a fan token ecosystem. The token will be a digital asset that gives voting rights to West Ham United fans, who can then participate in tokenized polls on the Socios mobile app.

Also in April, Tron CEO Justin Sun said in a tweet that the Tron Foundation, the firm behind the 11th biggest cryptocurrency tron (TRON), will reportedly partner with another British professional football club, Liverpool.