The Italian football club Rimini, which plays in the Italian Serie C division, has sold a portion of the team’s shares in exchange for cryptocurrency.The first-of-its-kind acquisition was made by Heritage Sports Holdings (HSH), a sports investment company based in the United Arab Emirates. Contrary to initial reporting by various outlets, the club’s shares were not purchased with bitcoin. Instead, representatives used Quantocoin (QTC), a Gibraltar-based cryptocurrency, to buy out roughly 25 percent of the team’s shares. One of the project’s partners, Pablo V. Dana, is a partner and shareholder at HSH, as well.The announcement came by way of Rimini’s president Giorgio Grassi. In a press release, he states: “Negotiations with this group have been ongoing for a couple of months. Heritage Sports Holdings, with its partner Quantocoin, will try to bring to the team and to the city new ideas and synergies from the sporting, brand image and technological point of views. Heritage Sports Holdings’ participation is innovative in view of its crypto payment system and its use of blockchain technology.” HSH was founded in 2013. The company operates as both a facilitator in football teams’ acquisitions and as a direct investor in ventures related to football in both Asian and European countries. Other clubs owned by HSH include Union Deportiva Los Barrios, a Spanish football sixth division team, and Mantova football i...
