The UK’s premier basketball team, the London Lions, has partnered with BitPay – the world’s largest provider of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency payment services. The partnership – which represents the first-ever agreement between BitPay and a UK basketball team – will enable fans to transact with the club using more than 100 different crypto wallets and exchanges including Coinbase, Exodus Wallet and Trust Wallet.

With basketball serving as the second most popular sport in the UK behind football among young people, the team continues to garner mass popularity, selling out the London’s CopperBox Arena for last month’s visit from Paris, with an additional 4000 fans attending their recent game with Israeli side Hapoel Tel Aviv in the EuroCup.

Prioritising the fan community, BitPay will work with the club as part of a long-term commitment to increase financial literacy and general awareness around cryptocurrency and effective money management. Through a community led programme of knowledge sharing and practical experience, the Lions and BitPay hope to equip fans with the skills, understanding and confidence needed to manage finances and transactions in a future-facing, secure manner. This is amidst a climate in which a staggering 81% of young people feel anxious about money and 72% want to learn more about personal finances.

Speaking on the importance of the partnership, Jonathan Lutzky, Operating Partner of 777 Partners, said:

“We stand strongly behind the belief that sport is a vehicle for social impact in society, with money management and future facing financial literacy being some of the most important pillars. As a result, we’re really excited to see this landmark relationship evolve, enabling fans to transact with the club in a new way whilst also increasing awareness around cryptocurrency.”

Merrick Theobald, Vice President of Marketing at BitPay, added:

“The London Lions realize the potential for crypto to transform the UK professional sports industry, making payments faster, more secure, and less expensive on a global scale. Our goal at BitPay is to make accepting crypto a seamless process and increase adoption as we believe crypto is the future of payments.”