Brazil: Cruzeiro seeks to finance its new stadium through its own ICO
In order to raise funds to complete the construction of their new stadium in Cachoeirinha, the Brazilian soccer team Club Deportivo Cruzeiro has decided to go with the times, and launch an own ICO (initial offer of coins). In this way, Cruzeiro becomes the first sports club in Latin America to take this initiative.
The sports club spread the news through their official accounts on Twitter, where they set a goal of raising some 60 million reais, that is, a little over US $ 16 million. The sports organization states that, in addition to completing the work of the site, what has been achieved will also make it possible to streamline both the finances and the team's sporting decisions.
The president of the Deliberative Council of Cruzeiro, Paulo Doering, commented that the association had already decided to change city and stadium for quite some time, due to the demands of the first league teams located in that region. The club was originally located in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul.
Cruzeiro started with the construction of the new stadium and the consequent transfer of the furniture and other belongings of the club. When the funds ran out, the team was forced to implement a new funding source.
Following the example of Arsenal - which recently also executed an ICO - and advised by the Iconic group, a Brazilian cryptocurrency financial consulting company, the launch of an ICO to complete the works of the stadium was taking shape, until, finally, will be carried out.
Jonathan Darcie, Iconic's business manager, affirms that cryptocurrencies are a durable and innovative solution to economically help a company with the least possible impact, and that, in these cases, such as Club Deportivo Cruzeiro, are a useful tool for meet specific financial needs.
For his part, Doering suggests that the cryptocurrencies could mark the beginning of "a true virtualization of the club", where the training of the team is made public and the fans have a space to give their opinion.
With this in mind, they will develop a platform, Cruizeiro Open Source , which, among other things, will offer a ranking of the players, the match and the tactics, so that users can evaluate the team's historical performance, and express their opinion on regarding possible changes in the future. Cruzeiro Open Source is expected to be operational in 2019.
"Cruzeiro" has been the name chosen for the tokens to be issued during the ICO, which is scheduled for the second half of this year. They may be acquired with Bitcoin, Ether, NIC (the cryptographic owner of Iconic) and fiduciary currency.
Recently, the Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission (CVM) clarified that the regulation of the cryptocurrency space is beyond its supervisory scope, which is why the Cruzeiro Sports Club will carry out the initiative without any impediment.