‘Crypto? I thought that was the stuff that kills Superman’ – Crawley’s cryptocurrency takeover – The Athletic

When you talk about crypto, I thought that, to be honest with you, was the stuff that kills Superman, says Crawley Town manager John Yems at a press conference to mark the takeover which may prove to be the first step in English footballs cryptocurrency revolution.

Crypto virtual currencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum underpinned by blockchain technology has taken the world of football by storm over the past couple of years as clubs including Barcelona to Manchester United sign lucrative deals with firms in the sector, amid excitement but also fierce criticism.

I aint got a clue, Yems, 62, tells The Athletic. But how many people in football know what their owners do?, or where they get their money from?

Yems has got a point, but this is a new frontier for the English Football League as League Twos Crawley become the first club in the league to be owned by a cryptocurrency group after Turkish steel magnate Ziya Eren sold his controlling stake to WAGMI United for a fee of around 5 million.

WAGMI United is the same US consortium that announced its intention to buy Bradford City, another fourth tier side, last year but abandoned the project after a war of words with Bradfords owner Stefan Rupp, the two parties disputing whether or not they ever had an agreement.

WAGMI which stands for Were All Gonna Make It, a popular expression among online cryptocurrency enthusiasts made a series of PR missteps at the time, such as telling the Washington Post our hope is that it works. Theres not that much downside if it doesnt.

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'Crypto? I thought that was the stuff that kills Superman' - Crawley's cryptocurrency takeover - The Athletic