cryptocurrency

Perth Heat baseball team to pay players in Bitcoin and accept currency for ticket and food sales – Daily Mail


Australian sport team to pay its players in BITCOIN and accept the digital currency for ticket and food sales – claiming it is ‘the future of money’

  • Perth Heat baseball team to start paying players and staff in Bitcoin from Friday 
  • Employees can now choose between cryptocurrency and traditional payment 
  • The Heat will also accept Bitcoin for food and drink as well as sponsorship deals
  • Follows WA team striking a sponsorship deal with payment provider OpenNode










An Australian baseball team will pay its players in Bitcoin and accept it for ticket and food sales as it believes digital currency is ‘the future of money’. 

Perth Heat said its employees could now choose to be paid in cryptocurrency after striking a deal with payment organisation OpenNode.

Heat general manager Steve Nelkovski said executives planned to eventually run the entire organisation through Bitcoin.

‘The Heat are embracing the reality that the future of money and corporate treasuries will live on the Bitcoin blockchain,’ the club said in a statement.

The Perth Heat will allow its players to be paid in Bitcoin and accept the digital currency for ticket and food sales as part of a landmark new sponsorship deal

The Perth Heat will allow its players to be paid in Bitcoin and accept the digital currency for ticket and food sales as part of a landmark new sponsorship deal

Perth Heat general manager Steven Nelkovski. He said executives planned to eventually run the entire organisation through Bitcoin

Perth Heat general manager Steven Nelkovski. He said executives planned to eventually run the entire organisation through Bitcoin

The Heat said it was the first time a sport team wholly embraced cryptocurrency. 

‘If they want to be paid 10 per cent in Bitcoin and 90 per cent cash, we can do that,’ Mr Nelkovski told ABC News.

‘We will set it up as to how each individual player or staff would like.

‘We’re confident that in five years time it won’t be just our players but pretty much every professional athlete will be having part or all of their salaries paid in Bitcoin.’

The Heat will also accept Bitcoin for food and drink as well as merchandise and sponsorship deals.

Mr Nelkovski said the new arrangement, which will begin on Friday, meant players from overseas would not need to open a bank account when they arrived in Australia. 

He added the team would also save money by avoiding the hefty transaction fees that come with traditional payment systems.

The WA baseball team said this is the first time a sport team has wholly embraced cryptocurrency (stock image)

The WA baseball team said this is the first time a sport team has wholly embraced cryptocurrency (stock image)

Perth Heat players celebrate in team uniform. The Perth-based side are one of the Australian Baseball League's most successful teams

Perth Heat players celebrate in team uniform. The Perth-based side are one of the Australian Baseball League’s most successful teams

‘If you look at the transaction fees you pay off all platforms, and we can save one per cent per transaction, that’s significant over one year,’ he told The West Australian.

‘Multiply that over 10 years, that money reinvested back into Perth Heat is better for the organisation.’

Experts expressed concern about Bitcoin’s volatility, despite the currency surging to an all-time high of $92,424 last week. 

Only a year ago, the world’s first cryptocurrency was worth $27,000. 

Bitcoin and Ethereum, the world’s two biggest cryptocurrencies, stayed weak on Wednesday and near critical levels that analysts believe could spell further vulnerability. 

The Heat is one of the Australian Baseball League’s most successful teams having won four championships since its inception in 2010.   



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