The United States luge team used entrepreneurial thinking to use cryptocurrency to circumvent low funds.

The team’s website stated that the “US Luge Team and Bitcoin are made for each other” because luge knows “all about speed, crashes, risk management, and holding on.”  Ty Danco was a former luge Olympian in 1980 and is now an angel investor pushing for U.S. luge to adopt new sources of funding because he knows “that the luge team needs a whole lot more money.” The team began accepting donations in late 2017 and by the start of the Olympics they raised 0.673 Bitcoins, which was about $5,400 USD at the time. The team was able to bring in three separate Bitcoin donations totaling $25 dollars after Chris Mazdzer won silver on Feb. 11.

The team intends to play the long game and continue to raise and hodl Bitcoins until the 2022 and 2026 Olympic games. As an incentive to Bitcoin donors, Gordy Sheer, director of marketing and sponsorship for USA Luge said they would add the Bitcoin logo to outerwear and merchandise if they reach their funding goals. Unfortunately, Olympic rules prevent displaying Bitcoin and other logos at Olympic games, but the team would still be able to wear the Bitcoin logo at other team competitions.

Cryptocurrency allows better funding for smaller market athletes

Athletes’ funding has been consolidated in sponsorships and complex revenue schemes for years, which can now be considered crude methods. Athletes no longer have to worry about appealing to large markets to get corporate sponsorships, nor do middlemen exist to take a cut of the donations.  Fans can directly fund those athletes they like the most and athletes can campaign to DAOs like Dash to get sponsored in a way that was unimaginable just a decade ago.

Dash sponsorships range from the high flying Dash Aerosports, to the no less intense MMA fighter and Bellator Welterweight World Championship, Rory MacDonald. The MMA intensity is doubled with Dash sponsoring Davis Dos Santos. Soccer is watched around the world leaving many teams without sponsors, but not the Dash Leopards. Just a decade ago, these teams and athletes would have had their sponsorships and incomes limited by the market size of their sports. The advent of internet video allowed for their market size to reach consumers around the world. Now the advent of cryptocurrencies allows for their funding sourcing to reach consumers around the world.

Dash integrates with key partners to help athletes even more

As hard as it is for athletes to convince consumers around the world to either sponsor or donate to them, it can be even harder to collect that money. Cryptocurrencies take a major leap, but integrating with other services can make it even easier than just posting a wallet address online. Dash partnered with Strike Social earlier this year, which will simplify the confusion of international payments in fiat and crypto that come with an athlete appealing to an international audience.

Dash not only allows more funding for athletes that had limit options under the previous funding regime of corporate sponsors, but also makes fundraising easier for those athletes with key service integrations.