Australian baseball team Perth Heat to pay staff in Bitcoin (BTC)

Australian Baseball League team Perth Heat says it will become the first professional sports club in the world to pay its players and staff in Bitcoin (BTC) as part of a new sponsorship deal with OpenNode.

As part of this agreement, Perth Heat will accept Bitcoin for sponsorships, merchandise, and even ballpark concessions like peanuts and crackers.

New heights

Perth Heat Chief Executive Steve Nelkovski believes the ground-breaking sponsorship will allow the club to achieve next-level success.

“By embracing the underlying values of the Bitcoin protocol, we believe that the organisation can reach new levels of success both on and off the field and remind the world of the true value of sports,” Nelkovski said.

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

The club has also appointed Patrick O’Sullivan chief Bitcoin officer to help move “the corporate treasury from dollars to Bitcoin”.

“This is not a one-off purchase to hedge against future uncertainties or inflationary pressures,” O’Sullivan stated. “The Perth Heat are embracing the reality that the future of money and corporate treasuries will live on the Bitcoin blockchain,” he added.

Perth Heat is the most successful baseball team in the history of the Australian Baseball League. It has won four ABL championships since 2010. How will Bitcoin payments affect the players’ mentality? Will they lead to better performance and new highs or force it to fluctuate just like BTC does?

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James Taylor

Trends are temporary. The blockchain isn’t a trend; it’s the future. I want to help as many people as possible understand it in a simple, clear and interesting way.