The Rungsted Seier Capital ice rink in Denmark has been officially renamed the Bitcoin Arena in a move by co-owner Lars Seier Christensen and billionaire sponsor Niklas Nikolajsen.
“We have had a good year, and you would be of no worth if you cannot look beyond your nose tip and see how to contribute a little,” said Bitcoin investor Niklas Nikolajsen, translated from Danish.
The club, Rungsted Seier Capital, in Horsholm, 25 kilometers north of Copenhagen, were playing their home games at the Saxo Bank Arena last year prior to the new changes which were introduced at the end of 2017.
The club’s star player, Nikolaj Rosenthal, is now paid his salary in Bitcoin; as of December 2017, he became the world’s first sports personality to be paid in digital currency. The club made the announcement at the end of last year:
“Top Rungsted player Nikolaj Rosenthal will pioneer the switch from traditional salary payments in Danish Kroner to become the first professional sports athlete to be paid fully and exclusively in Bitcoin, paving the way for others in- and outside of the world of professional sports to do the same.”
A collaboration with Bitcoin Suisse AG, a Swiss-based financial service provider specializing in crypto assets, extends to other initiatives with Rungsted Seier Capital, with five different competitions launched enabling fans to win prizes of 0.1 BTC. The stadium will now display a new center logo, “a massive 9-meter diameter ice-covered gold and silver Bitcoin”, Bitcoin Suisse confirmed.
Payment terminals in the stadium now enable payment in Bitcoin and other virtual currencies, and the season’s ice hockey pucks have been redesigned as Bitcoins.
Denmark has long been thought of as Bitcoin-friendly. It is easy to buy and sell Bitcoin in Denmark thanks to the numerous Bitcoin exchanges that operate freely in the country. Danish government legislators have indicated that their goal is to make all retail transactions digital and remove paper money by 2030.
