The Bullet No.59 A Cheat Code for Football
TL;DR Bitcoin football clubs are winning football clubs
Ever since my Dad took me to Upton Park to see West Ham defeat Arsenal 3-1, I’ve been hooked on football, and I’m privileged to work for a company in Visa that supports football development in many ways, through our work with FIFA, UEFA and many others. The area I want to focus on for this letter though, is the role that Bitcoin is playing in football and how it’s winning both on and off the pitch.
1. Bedford, England
At the start of 2022, a well-known Bitcoin podcaster named Peter McCormack, bought his local football team, Bedford FC, who’s men’s team were playing in the 10th tier of English football. Peter quickly rebranded them to Real Bedford, because he liked the play on Real Madrid and also to distinguish them from their neighbours Bedford Town FC, who’s ground is literally next door to Real Bedford. He followed that up by publicly publishing a strategy to get them to the Premier League, a little matter of 9 promotions. A lofty dream, which many have tried, but this one had a difference.
2. The Bitcoin Standard
Peter is running Real Bedford on a Bitcoin Standard, which means the treasury of the club is all held in Bitcoin. Peter’s view is that with Bitcoin being the hardest money there is, the treasury purchasing power will appreciate over time. If he can also grow the club and add to that treasury with more Bitcoin, the idea is that the purchasing power will become large enough to facilitate infrastructure and player investment, which will enable them to compete with the biggest clubs in England.
3. 2 Years Later
In a little over 2 years since acquisition, Real Bedford have achieved back-to-back promotions, placing them in the 8th tier for the 24/25 season. 2 promotions done, 7 to go. With the Bitcoin story fueling a global fanbase, the club have steadily grown attendance, revenue and sponsorship. They live stream their games to fans outside the UK and are steadily building a fanbase that saw 1,000 people attend one of their final games of the season in April. That game came off the back of a Bitcoin conference that Peter put on in Bedford called CheatCode, which had the general theme of using Bitcoin as the cheat code to improve your life in whatever way you choose.
4. Enter the Twins
The conference was a great success, selling out hotels in Bedford, with speakers from across the world ranging from economists, financial experts, payment technology founders, Bitcoin developers and representatives from the Human Rights Foundation. The content was excellent and is now all available on Peter’s podcast YouTube channel (389) What Bitcoin Did - YouTube. I decided to attend in person, and I was very glad I did, if only to be in the room when Peter announced a massive investment of $4.5M into Real Bedford, the largest investment for a non-league English football team ever. The room went wild, and who was behind the investment? None other than the Winklevoss twins. You know, the brothers who successfully sued Mark Zuckerberg over the launching of Facebook and brought to life in the film The Social Network. Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss are early Bitcoin adopters and now Real Bedford has got not just one billionaire backer but two!
5. Here Come the Girls
While the focus is on the men’s team, Real Bedford are investing equally heavily in their ladies team. They themselves won a trio of trophies last season and secured promotion into level 4 of the English Women’s game. It wouldn’t surprise me to see the ladies achieve the top league ahead of the men, given the way Peter is focussing on equal opportunity of investment and development.
6. The Idea is Catching On
Elsewhere across the world there are other football and sports clubs catching on to the same plan and using Bitcoin in their treasury to power the progress of their club. There is Botev Plovdiv Football Club in Bulgaria and the Perth Heat baseball team in Australia to name a few. Expect to see more in the future as Bitcoin gains critical mass and understanding.
All of this is just part of the story, I’ve run out of space to tell you about how Bitcoin is powering a Bedford Future Fund that Peter has started or the many merchants across Bedford and elsewhere that have started accepting Bitcoin for payment alongside the club doing so for merchandise, match tickets and refreshments at games. Or the Bitcoin education programs these sports clubs are running in their communities, I’ll have to find time to write another letter on all that. In the end, I still love West Ham and I’ve often said you can’t support a second team, but Real Bedford is most definitely my Bitcoin team and one to watch.
Peace, love and Bitcoin,
Rob
Disclaimer: Whatever I present here are my own thoughts and opinions and not necessarily that of Visa.