LFE preps football related cryptocurrency

Football has gone bonkers over blockchain, Brian. Last week, Arsenal became the first major football club to ink a cryptocurrency promotion deal. And now the London Football Exchange (LFE) is set to launch a cryptocurrency allowing fans to buy shares of clubs and get exclusive access to the likes of merchandise, events and VIP experiences. “Our vision is to allow football clubs to take advantage of the token funding economy for their financing needs by providing them with a tokenised financing infrastructure which involves token design and issuance services,” says Charles Pittar, Corporate CEO at London Football Exchange.

Discussions are underway with over 50 clubs including some from the Premier League and “some of the most prominent teams throughout Europe, USA and Australia”. LFE is being advised on the launch by law firm CMS. Sam Robinson, a partner at CMS, says: “It is very exciting to advise LFE on establishing a business that is aiming to have an impact on the entire football industry using blockchain technology. As a firm, CMS has a particular focus on FinTech and we are delighted to be able to support businesses like LFE that are at the cutting edge of regulation and technology.”

Services will include LFE Points, a blockchain-enabled loyalty, rewards and offers platform. Members will benefit through special discounts, exclusive offers, rewards and other incentives only available to LFE token holders. For the clubs, the tokens aim to help them “eliminate the antiquated ticketing technology from legacy operators that mean they pay fees ranging from 5% to 8% in commission based on the notional value of tickets sold”.

As part of its Initial Token Offering, LFE will generate four billion tokens with 2.4 billion tokens made available for general sale. The tokens will be priced at $0.20, which equates to a fundraising goal of approximately $350 million. The pre-sales run from 15th January to 11th February, with the public sale taking place directly afterwards, from 12th February to 20th May. The LFE platform will use the Ripple and Stellar networks to support token issuance, trades, and transfers, with Bitcoin, Ethereum and Ripple all accepted as part of the token sale. Bank transfers of British Pounds, Euros, US Dollars, Australian Dollars and Swiss Francs will also be accepted.