Crypto Firm Libereum Acquires Spanish Football Club Elche CF for $4.9 Million

Cryptocurrencies are starting to come out of their infancy as more and more mainstream businesses are implementing the digital assets and distributed ledger technologies in their systems. As new technologies and companies based on those technologies mature, their involvement in other parts of industry starts to increase.

Another example of this is the new alliance between Dutch sports and a cryptocurrency company: Libereum’s acquisition of the Spanish football club Elche CF. According to a press release published on December 26, the deal was struck for an amount of $4.9 million.

Libereum has an ERC20 token called Liber. Because of this acquisition, Liber is expected to take a form of payment at the stadiums of the sports team. “[The deal is] a crucial step towards connecting the decentralized digital currency with the most populate sport in the world: football,” the press release stated.

It is import to note here that three seasons ago, Elche CF was relegated from the Spanish Primera Division because of their failure to pay taxes. The club was in financial turmoil. However, the new owners intend to fix the situation through their crypto powered solutions.

The press release by Libereum reads, “We want to bring back the club to the Primera Divison. This requires financial injections. And that is where our digital coin (Liber) comes in. We want the coin (token) to gradually become part of the financial policy in and around the club, so that everything – on the term – can be paid simply, in an easily accessible way, with Liber.”

A cause for controversy is an official statement released by the Elche CF club on December 27, in which they’ve denied the acquisition by Libereum. The statement by Elche CF says, “Elche Club de Fútbol, in reply to certain information published, wants to STRONGLY DENY the sale of the Club to any company dedicated to cryptocurrency or to any other activity. In this way, the Club wants to settle the rumors that have occurred due to the different reports that may disturb and lead to confusion among fans.”

However, the statement has since been removed from the club’s website and Libereum still stands by their press release. ChepiCap reported that Cem Kumlar, CEO of Libereum, blamed the ex-president of Elche CF Jose Sepulcre Coves to be involved in the denial of the operation.

It has also been reported that Libereum is also in talks with other clubs for similar deals, and that another football club might get an offer of EURO 80 million from Libereum. However, there has been no confirmation of such claims by Libereum itself.

This deal joins several more acquisitions and collaborations between crypto companies and football clubs such as Paris Saint Germain, Juventus, Atletico Mineiro, and Avai.