Where Blockchain Might Have An Impact On Sport

Our very own Chandrakanth Varma takes a look at how blockchain will be impacting people’s lives as we enter a world with this new technology become much more prominent in our everyday lives.

When you think about it and begin to look at the details, there are a number of ways that a bank transfer could potentially fail, but there are four issues which stand out in particular. They are:

• Technical issues – something along the lines of a server problem.
• Hacking – people may have infiltrated your account.
• Transaction limits.
• High transfer charges.

However, these can be solved by blockchain, which is at the backbone of cryptocurrency.

One of the most important points when looking at blockchain is that it makes it incredibly difficult for technical issues or hacking to take places, as all transactions of cryptocurrency exist on blockchain, which means every single transaction has it’s own information.

Every transaction will feed into or be stored in the block by a ledger (like a spreadsheet). This cannot be destroyed, replaced or altered, and also hacked. Every block is protected by encryption algorithms.

With something such as Bitcoin, there is the important point that Bitcoin cannot be sent before it has actually been received.

But how will this change sports and Esports?

Here are a number of key examples as to how this new technology will be able to transform the sporting landscape.

• Player salaries paid in Crypto – Some players are now requesting that they have their salaries paid in bitcoin rather than standard systems of payment. Russell Okung, of the Carolina Panthers in the NFL, last season received half of his $13m per year salary in Bitcoin, an NFL first.

• Cryptocurrency advertising – More and more cryptocurrency companies are pouring money into sports sponsorships – such as a number of recent deals by FTX and crypto.com.

• Ticketing through blockchain – you will now be able to see exactly who has owned the ticket and how it has been transferred from person to person.

• Player rights – The argument as to who own the rights to images for potential NFTs for players will likely rage on for many years.

• Sports collectables – NFTs are potentially the new digital age for collectable items, such as trading cards, which now exist as a slightly outdated market.