Can Bitcoin Build a Football Club?

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This is Real Bedford. Pronounced  Reál - just like Real Madrid. But while Madrid, the world's most valuable  team, built its empire on trophies. Real Bedford is trying to grow  its footprint using Bitcoin. The non-league football club - soccer

club to American  audiences - is about two hours north of   London. In 2022, it was bought by  Bitcoin podcaster Pete McCormack. Pete wasn't just trying to  build another local football club. He wanted to build one with a global

audience. I'm from Bedford here, and we are the largest or  second largest town in the country that's never   had a football club in the football league. I  was kind of looking at trying to figure out why, And so

I kind of made us the  rebel anarchist Bitcoin team. Crypto is broad label for digital assets  built on blockchain networks. Bitcoin was   the first and remains the largest by market value. I'm a Bitcoin maximus. It's the  only cryptocurrency

that matters. We   wanted to be the anti-establishment football  club, and so if you're anti-establishment,   you care about things that the government  can't interfere with. One of those is Bitcoin, and so we made that a central component of the 

club. Hence, when you look around the stadium,   the sponsorship and advertising  you'll see will be from Bitcoin companies. The idea soon attracted two of crypto’s best-known  investors. In 2024, Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss,   the billionaire founders of crypto exchange 

Gemini, invested $4.5 million in Real Bedford. Gemini is now also one of the club's sponsors. But the ambition goes beyond sponsorship.  McCormack wants Real Bedford to become a global   Bitcoin community. The club estimates around  a quarter of its

core fanbase is based outside   of Bedford. They make up an even larger audience  online - around 40% and on some matchdays, that   global community turns up in person, for what has  become part football match, part Bitcoin meetup. My

name is Martin, and I come from  Slovakia. And this is my sixth time   here in Real Bedford. I heard there is a Bitcoin club being built in   Bedford. Bitcoin gave me a lot of freedom  in my life, and I'm

trying to give back. Are you more interested in the Bitcoin than the football? Where does your interest lie? No, I'm interested in both. I'm a  Bitcoiner and I'm a football supporter. That is the business logic behind Real  Bedford. Bitcoin

has turned a local   football club into something visible  to supporters far beyond Bedford. But attracting a global community is  one thing. Running the club day to   day is another. That job belongs  to Real Bedford CEO Emma Firman. Worked

with Pete doing other things and then obviously he purchased the football club and then sort of said, 'can you help me run a football club?'. I was like, 'Pete I absolutely hate football, what you doing?' And here we

are four seasons later. Firman now runs one of the most  unusual football clubs in the country. Supporters can pay for tickets, food and merchandise using Bitcoin. Something that remains rare in football,  even at higher levels of the game.

But on a normal matchday, most still pay the usual way. If we just have like the normal fans in,  they're normally cash or paying with card,   but we do have the people that do want to pay by Bitcoin and we're

more than happy to accommodate them. Less than 20% I'd say, on match days. It  all depends on the type of event we've got. I've met people from all over the globe that have travelled in just because it's the

Bitcoin team. Having the kind of Bitcoin thing if you like it just makes the club completely unique. Bitcoin also reaches parts of the club’s payroll. Some of our players get paid either full Bitcoin  or part Bitcoin. Even people

that we employ,   I think people just intrigued, so they're the  curious, and it's something a bit different. At first glance, it looks like  Bitcoin is funding the football club. But the reality is more complicated. Obviously, Bitcoin's price is

fairly  volatile as an asset class. Do you   think that that's a risk to the  business model for the football club? I mean that volatility's everywhere now. There's volatility in our own currency. I think Bitcoin is just another volatile part

of a volatile world. And as someone who owns a  lower league football club,   do you think that is a sustainable way  to fund the club, through Bitcoin then? Well, we don't fund the club through Bitcoin.  We fund the

club through sponsorships,   ticket sales, people spending money  here when they come here, merchandise. So you're not having to put any more  money beyond the original purchase? Well, we raised $4.5 million, £3.6 million from Cameron and Tyler Winkelvoss, and so

that   sits within our treasury. Yes, we dip into that over the season to support the club. This is an investment. Think of it like a startup. You raise money with a target.   And what's the target? Well, it's for promotions.

And so, as a startup, all you're   trying to do with startups is move quicker than  your capital base allows you to. That's why you   take investment, and we will take more rounds  of investment as we look to grow

this club. But not everyone is convinced  the model can succeed. You've done a podcast with Pete McCormack,   what do you think of the project that  he's building over at Real Bedford? I think it's intriguing. I think he's trying to

ride two horses at the same time.  You know, Pete will say that he's not  a crypto fan, he's a Bitcoin fan,   and he's very much at pains to  say that they are completely   independent. As far as the football

club  is concerned, here I'm a bit more skeptical. If we take a look at what happened with Crawley  Town, for example, they were acquired by two   American evangelical supporters of  crypto. Their controlling company was   called Wagmi United, and

Wagmi stands for We're  All Going to Make It. Well, they didn't make it. The project brought attention, NFTs and global  ambition — but also a chaotic first season,   with the club fighting to avoid  dropping into a lower league.

The initial curiosity factor towards  that, that dissipated very quickly,   because people are saying, 'well, you know, we're  more interested in what's happening on the pitch.' Crawley eventually won promotion to League  One — moving up to the third tier

of English   football. But the lesson was still clear:  digital hype can open doors and attract   attention. It cannot replace results, local  trust or a sustainable football operation. It's been tough. We get all called all different  kind of names.

I think we've earned our place,   so I think we're a bit more accepted this year  than we have probably in previous seasons. What does success look like for the  club and for you? Is it promotion? Is   it sustainability?

Or is it to  grow the awareness of Bitcoin? It's certainly not the latter. For me, success  is we get to a level, the football league,   whereby we can build a new stadium, we  can build an academy, and we

can develop   high quality players in this town, both for our  for our boys and girls. That's success for me. You have to go through some kind of ordeal in  football. As Bitcoin investors and enthusiasts,   we also have to

go through that  ordeal simultaneously. But myself,   I'm here for the long ride. It's great fun. Real Bedford may never become the next  Manchester United. But its experiment   is testing a bigger idea: whether a small  local club can use

a global digital community   to attract the kind of capital, sponsors and  attention that would normally be out of reach. If it works, Bitcoin will not just have sponsored  a football club. It will have helped build one.