The team in bright orange, a skull and crossbones on their chests, walked onto the field of play, their anthem\u00a0 \u2014 \u201c<\/em>Know Your Enemy\u201d<\/em> by U.S. rap metal band Rage Against the Machine \u2014 drowning out the cheers of the 150 or so fans in attendance.\u00a0<\/p>\n It was a suitably rock-n-roll start to a first round cup game for Real Bedford, the world\u2019s first Bitcoin-funded football team. The club, based in Bedford, a market town with a population of 170,000 in Bedfordshire, England, is the passion project of local owner and Bitcoin evangelist Peter McCormack.\u00a0<\/p>\n The host of the \u201cWhat Bitcoin Did\u201d podcast \u2014 a Bitcoin-based current affairs show that positions the cryptocurrency as a remedy for socioeconomic issues such as rising inflation and state debt \u2014 spoke animatedly on the day of the match about the changes the club has seen under his ownership, and the role that Bitcoin has played in it.<\/p>\n \u201cTeams should care about something,\u201d he said. \u201cEvery club has a history of where it came from. It\u2019s usually the community they were in.\u201d His ownership has brought with it the international reach and decentralized philosophy of Bitcoin \u2014 a \u201cglobal community that cares about hard working people not having the fruits of their labor debased by government mismanagement of money,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n But financial reliance on a cryptocurrency brings with it certain complications \u2014 including market volatility and industry implosions beyond the Real Bedford owner\u2019s control.<\/p>\n McCormack completed the purchase of Real Bedford \u2014 a South Midlands Division One side then known as Bedford FC \u2014 in April 2022 on the back of various business ventures linked to Bitcoin. He said at the time of the takeover that, with Bitcoin-backed financing, he wants to put the club in a position to rise nine tiers to the Premier League \u2014 the pinnacle of English football.\u00a0<\/p>\n 3\/ So what is the plan? To get our club into the Premier League, 9 promotions\u2026 \u2014 Peter McCormack\ud83c\udff4\u200d\u2620\ufe0f (@PeterMcCormack) December 16, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n He started the process of buying the club in December 2021, near the peak of the last crypto bull market. But in March 2022, the U.S. Federal Reserve began raising interest rates. Then in May that year, stablecoin platform Terra-Luna collapsed, followed by the FTX cryptocurrency exchange in November. A bear market mentality settled over the crypto industry as investors shied away from riskier assets, including Bitcoin. Prices dropped, while over US$2 trillion was wiped off the wider market.\u00a0<\/p>\n From a high of almost US$70,000, Bitcoin\u2019s price plummeted to less than US$16,000 by the end of 2022. While it recovered some of that ground to trade within the US$26,000 range as of early September, analysts expect macroeconomic concerns to continue to weigh on the token\u2019s price \u2014 at least in the short term.<\/p>\n \u201cThe main headwind for crypto is rising real interest rates,\u201d said Samuel Lee, founder of U.S.-based SVRN Asset Management, an investment advisory firm. \u201cIt\u2019s unlikely we\u2019ll see a sustained resurgence until interest rates drop back down again and people forget about the trauma and folly of the last bubble.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Could an extended period of crypto winter combined with further declines in the price of Bitcoin impact Real Bedford?<\/p>\n \u201cThat doesn\u2019t worry me because I fundamentally believe there\u2019s a far higher chance of the pound failing than Bitcoin,\u201d McCormack said. \u201cI think a more important question is: is the club sustainable if we don\u2019t keep winning?\u201d<\/p>\n As the referee blew his whistle for the start of last week\u2019s game at McMullen Park, the realities of ninth-tier English football set in. With the music off, the fans quietened down, their cheers replaced by the sound of the wind blowing through the trees lining the ground and a motorway running opposite. It was a long way from the glamor of the Premier League.<\/p>\n \u201cBedford isn\u2019t really known for anything,\u201d said McCormack, 44, who has lived in the town most of his life. \u201cIf a tourist comes to the U.K., most people go to London or Manchester or Bath. There\u2019s no reason to come to Bedford.\u201d<\/p>\n Mark Anderson, a local software engineer who volunteers at the club on Saturdays, was more direct. \u201cBedfordshire is basically the arse-end of the nice bits,\u201d he said, referring to the county\u2019s location north of Greater London on the periphery of some of Britain\u2019s most desirable real estate.<\/p>\n But it is McCormack\u2019s connection to the local area, the Real Bedford owner said, that gives him an advantage over other sporting ownership models backed by digital assets.<\/p>\n \u201cThis has meaning to me because it\u2019s my town,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s the most important thing I\u2019m doing. The town of Bedford should have a team in the Football League.\u201d<\/p>\n He pointed to fourth-tier English football team Crawley Town \u2014 bought<\/a> by U.S. crypto consortium WAGMI United in April 2022 \u2014 as an example of an ownership model without a link to the local community. WAGMI, like McCormack, promised to take the club to the pinnacle of English football. But rather than Bitcoin, they planned to use sales of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to build Crawley\u2019s brand and establish an international fan base.\u00a0<\/p>\n The project got off to a promising start, earning \u00a33.5 million (US$4.4 million) from its first NFT drop. But against the backdrop of last year\u2019s turbulence in the crypto market, the new owners became increasingly involved in day-to-day footballing operations \u2014 including a brief stint<\/a> on the coach\u2019s bench for co-owner Preston Johnson. The club went into a tailspin, suffering its worst finish<\/a> in twelve years in the football league and narrowly avoiding relegation.<\/p>\n While WAGMI United didn\u2019t respond to a request for comment, Reuben Watt, Chair of the Crawley Town Supporters Alliance, said that by the end of last season, confidence in the group\u2019s ownership was at an \u201call-time low.\u201d He worried that the owners had consistently focused on pleasing NFT holders over local fans.<\/p>\n Concern among fans appears to have sunk in. WAGMI appointed Sam Jordan<\/a>, a member of the Supporter\u2019s Alliance, to the board of directors in August.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI think the appointment of Sam to the club\u2019s board is a huge turning point for the club,\u201d said Watt. \u201cHad WAGMI got in someone with knowledge of English football straight away and put a fan on the board, then we would\u2019ve been in a better situation.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n McCormack didn\u2019t hold back in his criticism of the Crawley owners. \u201cI think they bought it as a toy,\u201d he said. \u201cThey bought a toy under the hype, probably watched a bunch of Ted Lasso and got excited. They\u2019ve done a terrible job.\u201d<\/p>\n He also identified issues with the WAGMI group\u2019s association with crypto assets like meme coins and NFTs \u2014 which are fundamentally different, he said, to Bitcoin \u2014 as another flaw in its business model.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThey basically want to just get people to buy crap that will lose value \u2014 which has been proven historically \u2014 whereas for us, Bitcoin is a monetary asset,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThis war we see between Bitcoin and crypto is reflected in the ethos of how we run our clubs. Bitcoin is in our DNA, but we\u2019re also about building that feeling around the town that this is a community thing,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Last season, Real Bedford won its division at a canter, earning promotion to the South Midlands Premier Division. Much of the financing behind that run came from large-scale sponsorship. The club has partnership agreements with a host of Bitcoin companies, including Iris Energy, a sustainable Bitcoin mining firm; Galaxy, a crypto firm dealing in corporate finance; and Gemini, a cryptocurrency exchange.\u00a0<\/p>\n According to the club\u2019s records<\/a>, sponsorship provided \u00a3387,900 (US$491,000) out of the club\u2019s \u00a3549,507 (US$696,000) revenue in the 22\/23 season \u2014 a significant amount given that ninth-tier clubs typically only have sponsorship deals in the four to five figure range.\u00a0<\/p>\n The revenue brought in through tie-ups with the likes of Gemini \u2014 who, according to a spokesperson, view the Real Bedford partnership as a form of Bitcoin-backed community building \u2014 allows the club to make improvements to its facilities and player welfare in a way unmatched by the league\u2019s other teams.<\/p>\n And while the sponsorship revenue gives the club a huge advantage in its ability to attract players, the Bitcoin connection also acts as a magnet for attracting supporters from further afield \u2014 football fans who may not otherwise have chosen Bedford as a place to spend their Saturday afternoons.<\/p>\n \u201cOver the last year, over 100 people have come in from other countries to watch the games here,\u201d McCormack says. \u201cWe had 12 come in from Slovakia! That\u2019s insane! And they\u2019re spending money in the hotels, in the bars, in the restaurants \u2014 that money supports our local economy.\u201d<\/p>\n The 256% rise in matchday attendances since the takeover has put a strain on facilities unready for the increased level of interest. The club were averaging just 40 attendees per week when McCormack took over, whereas CEO Emma Firman wrote in the week\u2019s program notes that the club is now working with local businesses to expand its designated parking for the game.<\/p>\n \u201cOur match days are getting busier, which is exciting for everyone here at the club as more people recognise our exciting project at McMullen Park,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n But for all the club\u2019s progress, the club\u2019s ownership model is reliant on Bitcoin-affiliated sponsors impacted by the ongoing bear market.\u00a0<\/p>\n The club still sits five rungs below McCormack\u2019s medium-term target of the Football League \u2014 tiers 2 to 4 \u2014 where budgets of newly promoted sides are \u00a31-3 million. Getting there will require sustained success for the next half-decade \u2014 not just for the team, but for Bitcoin-backed sponsors who will have to weather any further market volatility and declines in the token\u2019s price.<\/p>\n Companies across the sector have been forced to push through large-scale layoffs<\/a> over the past year, with Real Bedford\u2019s main sponsor Gemini undergoing three consecutive rounds of job cuts<\/a> between July 2022 and January 2023. Their spending on TV and digital advertisements alone fell from US$3.8 million to US$478,000<\/a> between May and November 2022, according to the Wall Street Journal.<\/p>\n \u201cCrypto sponsor\u2019s rich marketing budgets depended on the huge crypto bubble that allowed them to raise money effortlessly,\u201d said SVRN\u2019s Samuel Lee.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWith the collapse in crypto prices and waning interest in crypto, money is unsurprisingly tight. I think crypto companies are starting to realize that the payoff for expensive sports sponsorships isn\u2019t as high as they thought,\u201d Lee added.\u00a0<\/p>\n McCormack said that he personally has little concern for a Bitcoin price drop. The U.K. economy and the pound are more vulnerable to volatility in light of the government\u2019s debt burden, he said. But he did stress the importance of achieving stability beyond a reliance on Real Bedford\u2019s Bitcoin backers.<\/p>\n One way to do that, he said, is by growing crowds through a brand of football fans can engage with. That starts with the club\u2019s skull-heavy rebrand as The Pirates and a ramped up social media presence that leans heavily into the idea of the world\u2019s first Bitcoin-backed team as rock-n-roll disruptors.<\/p>\n \u201cYou give people a brand of football they can support,\u201d McCormack said. \u201cWe have skulls. Skulls are f\u2013king cool. We play heavy metal when they come on the pitch. And have you seen our tunnel?\u201d<\/p>\n The team\u2019s brand also involves strong connections with the local area, not just through the men\u2019s team, but through community initiatives, youth and women\u2019s football. The recent FIFA Women\u2019s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand drew record global audiences<\/a> and McCormack said he sees potential for women\u2019s football as a growth market for Real Bedford.\u00a0<\/p>\nBear market<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\n
\u2026I am a bitcoiner, we aim big. If we can separate money and state, we can get a football club into the Premier League. pic.twitter.com\/uQu4i0l90v<\/a><\/p>\nLocal link<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\"Real](\"https:\/\/lh4.googleusercontent.com\/PucOjlPeNIytA99PIS-ffjtk22cD2oFakTkDaibgbl3onLMZG2hz5hMfYh7InZ2KCeo6U4xO1utMMqoNaGi0x2onC3N0PiAJA7ZhCmPUxM9apj-BZSxe5kenjFZ3Vp19N17cbxzAWoKRo29fDECa5IA\" "\\"Real")
Bitcoin backers<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\"whT81kxU7gg7esBeHPNaCYf4](\"https:\/\/lh5.googleusercontent.com\/whT81kxU7gg7esBeHPNaCYf4_aXkds0rZ3CDdLcCpVFXzp9CXDRPsYW0Y6c9dn8ej6jiPyg3nbMizkq7sWcNQFq1YdI2s4AHRuJLfsIsCYXJVkEy-_tVqZeDy3CE4f3a114Gsd57XuC8QqHfZ5mEiFo\" "\\"Real")
Sustainable growth<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\"dfrkKFeDIbN5Rl](\"https:\/\/lh4.googleusercontent.com\/dfrkKFeDIbN5Rl-X2KE5IGi543Qeb7GGim6vc-4i0IvKc3zbD0jaCDxUNRbA_3DWyUV2K_Yct67s1hvuPoqI8nmUEDCBja7RNxHeGIIJ2YaQSdCaVGs_OFK26ALHBBvUe_xqgBZxjLBb2v2-urlfbo8\" "\\"Real")
Bitcoin in the community<\/strong><\/h2>\n