Bitcoin and Mavericks fans can get a discount on their sports gear. Mark Cuban is offering a $25 (not 25%) gift card for each $150 spent in Bitcoin (BTC) on Dallas Mavericks merchandise.
A Bitcoin discount
Billionaire Mark Cuban surprised his followers with a tweet on Dec. 23, 2020. He offered a 25% Bitcoin discount on merchandise at Dallasmavs.shop. This site is the merchandise site of the basketball team he owns, the Dallas Mavericks. The deal is valid through Jan. 31, 2021, Blitz Weekly reported.
The businessman and Shark Tank star used his popularity to sell his gear and give Bitcoin attention. But there is one slight mathematical problem with this 25% discount. The Dallas Mavericks’ shop offers a $25 gift card off $150 or more spent in Bitcoin. That type caused a discrepancy of 12.5%.
The NBA team’s shop began accepting Bitcoin via payment service Bitpay, one of the largest crypto payment processors, a year and a half ago.
Bitpay CEO Stephen Pair said that the collaboration with the Mavericks has been successful:
“The Dallas Mavericks have been an outspoken advocate for Bitcoin, opening up opportunities for the team as it starts to accept Bitcoin for ticket sales and merchandise.”
Sports get on board, Cuban jumps off
The move to encourage Bitcoin purchases was a way to reach fans globally, Mark Cuban said. He believes using crypto will allow for seamless transactions internationally. In August 2019, the billionaire claimed that Bitcoin was similar to gold.
Interestingly, Cuban was not always so bullish on Bitcoin. In late 2019, he called Bitcoin nothing more than a collectable. He faced backlash from the Crypto community because of this. At the time, he also said that Bitcoin was too confusing for the average person to use.
But soon enough he changed his tune again. By April 2020, he was saying he’d rather invest in bananas than Bitcoin, causing the price to drop around 16%. But in a longer version of the statement he said supporting Bitcoin would be a “no-brainer” if it were easier to use. Indeed, he was making a bullish case for Bitcoin. Cuban had also criticized the drawn-out process of mailing COVID-19 stimulus checks. Perhaps crypto could provide a solution.
On Dec. 17, 2020, after the BTC price new records, the investor doubled down on the idea that Bitcoin could not be a reliable currency. He did, however, say that the price will go up once demand outstrips supply. This recently came to fruition as institutional investors are buying BTC faster than it can be mined. Perhaps this spurred the BTC discount (or maybe it was just a publicity stunt).
The world of sports is not a complete stranger to crypto. Some fantasy sports leagues are using crypto to track collectibles. Some even argue that cryptocurrencies could be used to combat fraud in sports merchandise and fantasy leagues.
Regardless of the reasons behind Cuban’s push to offer BTC discounts, the retail industry could see more of these deals in the future as crypto becomes more popular.
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