With boxing expanding into a multi-billion-dollar industry with a global reach, digital transformation becomes all the more critical in meeting market demands and expectations for sustained growth.
For instance, event promoters are partnering with digital streaming platforms like Showtime and HBO to deliver high-quality broadcasting content for highly anticipated boxing matches and support revenues generated by pay-per-view entertainment. Boxing federations have also been exploring the use of artificial intelligence to improve the accuracy and efficiency of scoring, mainly through sensors and algorithms that can track punches, knockdowns, and other key movements during live matches.
However, aside from digital streaming and AI-powered tools, cryptocurrency and blockchain are emerging technologies that also show potential for transforming boxing for all relevant stakeholders, including sports organizations, broadcasters, promoters, athletes, and audiences. In recent years, the financial boom of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin has reached greater heights through political backing and changes in traditional banks’ interest rates. With Bitcoin expected to hit the $70,000 milestone, the digital coin presents opportunities to boost economic activity and overall revenue if integrated into the boxing industry’s key offerings.
Furthermore, cryptocurrencies are facilitated by blockchain technologies, whose decentralization can enhance security, transparency, and accessibility in boxing-related transactions and ultimately promote interactions between industry stakeholders. But how exactly can these tools be incorporated into boxing operations and transform the industry as a whole? Find out more below.
Boosting revenues through crypto betting
The boxing industry generates a significant portion of its revenue from sponsorships, broadcasting rights, and pay-per-view events, but the sports betting segment is also crucial for making financial gains and sustaining interest in boxing as a sport. Although boxing fans and viewers can now place wagers through online banking, cryptocurrencies have emerged as a more efficient and secure payment method in terms of global accessibility, lower transaction costs, and shorter processing times.
The rise of crypto boxing betting through the platform Thunderpick, sees the popular betting site accept several crypto coins, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin, to make it easier and faster for fans to wager on both pre-match and live in-play markets via Live Mode. Whether users place single bets on popular boxing bout betting markets like Match Winner and Totals or make an accumulator to combine multiple selections into a single wager, Thunderpick’s integration of crypto-based payments has helped increase revenues, as users are encouraged to make more transactions with higher payouts and faster deposits and withdrawals.
Promoting boxing services
In addition to live matches that earn profits through pay-per-view, broadcasts, and wagers, boxing services like athletic training and coaching can also serve as revenue streams for the broader industry. In this light, Ready to Fight was established as a boxing blockchain community that connects athletes, coaches, agents, and managers within a single transparent and user-friendly ecosystem with Web 3.0 capabilities.
Beyond offering safety and security as a blockchain-based social networking platform, Ready to Fight launched its native crypto token, RTF, to let boxing brands and creators monetize their content using decentralized finance. The platform has amassed over 130,000 users since its launch in 2023, with 22 million tokens released since the announcement of the RTF coin. These tokens can be used within the RTF ecosystem to purchase boxing services like coaching, training partners, and diet and nutrition recommendations.
Engaging the community of boxing fans
Credit: Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine on Wikimedia Commons
Lastly, cryptocurrencies and blockchain networks can benefit the boxing industry by continuously engaging its global fan community. For example, the previously mentioned Ready to Fight ecosystem makes exclusive content from top athletes like Oleksandr Usyk, who also helped create the platform, accessible through its secure and decentralized native token.
Meanwhile, the sports-focused startup Eterlast developed blockchain-based technologies, including non-fungible tokens (NFTs), immersive games, and video digital collectibles, to enhance the fan experience in gaming, collecting, and watching live boxing events. With the help of the venture capital firm Supernode Global, the Barcelona-based Web 3.0 startup raised $4.6 million in 2022 to support its holistic ecosystem that enables fans worldwide to engage with one another and deepen their interactions with the boxing industry as a whole.
In summary, cryptocurrencies and blockchain networks can revolutionize boxing by increasing betting revenues, expanding the reach of boxing services, and enhancing fan engagement.