In a world-first for football, Arsenal today signed a landmark deal promoting a cryptocurrency.
The Premier League outfit has inked an agreement with Cashbet, a blockchain firm planning to launch its own currency to rival the likes of bitcoin, litecoin and ethereum.
The partnership will see Cashbet given prominent placement at the club's Emirates Stadium during home games.
Founded in California in 2012, Cashbet is a mobile-first online gaming company. It plans to raise $40m (£28m) through an initial coin offering which can then be used on its gaming platform.
“With our ICO for Cashbet Coin, we are actively targeting a global, multi-billion dollar marketplace of iGaming content providers, operators and players," said Cashbet founder Mike Reaves.
Arsenal chief commercial officer Vinai Venkatesham added: "We are looking forward to working with CashBet Coin as they launch their new cryptocurrency."
Read more: Spreadbetting chief blasts Ronaldo and attacks “crazy” football advertising
"Crazy"
The launch comes after the boss of Britain's biggest spreadbetting company hit out at "crazy" levels of financial product advertising during football matches.
IG Group chief executive Peter Hetherington said: "We think it is absolutely crazy that you can’t watch a football game in this country without seeing advertising for CFDs, FX or binaries all over the football stadiums."
David Ospina, Jack Wilshere and Nacho Monreal (Source: Arsenal)
He also slammed Real Madrid superstar Cristiano Ronaldo for fuelling problem investing.
“The fact that Cristiano Ronaldo tweeted his 49m followers what a great idea it was to open a CFD trading account with a Cypriot shop that sponsored him – the only thing you can say with certainty is that it was not a good idea for all of those 49m poor souls who follow him,” Hetherington told City A.M..
Read more: This payments processor is scrapping its support of bitcoin payments
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