Rally Cycling has announced it will become the first professional cycling team to launch its own cryptocurrency.
In what is being hailed as a breakthrough moment for the future of the sport of bike racing, Rally Cycling, the US pro men’s and women’s team, announced it will be launching WattCoin as early as this month.
While most blockchain-backed cryptocurrencies are generated through a process called ‘mining’, where the currency is generated as a reward for solving complex mathematical problems, WattCoin will be generated through the simple act of pedalling.
Any user of a Wahoo KICKR, the team’s home trainer of choice, will be able to convert the watts they generate during their home workouts into units of the currency, known as WattCoins, which will then be redeemable for items sold on the Rally Cycling website.
WattCoins are not yet tradeable on the crypto exchanges, but VeloNews understands they will be identified with the ticker name $WATT once launched.
Rally Cycling’s founder, Charles Aaron, said.
“For too long cycling has been dependent on flawed revenue models, and while we are fortunate to have an incredible family of sponsors behind the team, some other organizations are not so lucky. Now, through WattCoin, we can start building a sustainable economic ecosystem.”
When VeloNews followed up on this, asking Aaron whether he felt he fully understood the crypto-economy, he responded in robust fashion.
“Well, no. No, I don’t. But I don’t have to. Crypto is the future. It sounds to me like you don’t understand crypto, pal. WATTCOIN IS GOING TO THE FREAKIN’ MOON!”
After a brief physical altercation, Aaron resumed his seat in the press conference and Rally Cycling rider Rob Britton added.
“If you believe this is anything other than a dumb April Fools joke, I have some non-fungible magic beans you might also be interested in.”
The cryptocurrency will launch with 10,000 $WATT units available to the market, tradable for $USD, $BTC, $DOGE, $PONG, $KERSMASH, $DONNER, $BLITZEN and $BOOOO. In pre-launch pedalling, Rally Cycling was willing to confirm that a high-net-worth individual has already amassed a fortune of 7,800 $WATT, a value position somewhere equivalent to 1,900 $DOGE or thirteen-million hundredths of a Bitcoin.
In an unguarded moment, Rally Cycling’s press officer Tom Soladay said.
“Look man, I’m not supposed to tell anyone who it is, but it rhymes with Geelong Tusk, OK?”
One of the most frequent criticisms levelled at cryptocurrencies is that they are difficult to spend on real-world items. To answer this problem, Rally Cycling is putting up a team-issue Felt AR1, with a full set of Pactimo team kit, a LEM helmet and a nutrition package from First Endurance, all for the low, low price of 50 $WATT.
Aaron explained that members of the public would be able to start generating their own WattCoins “real soon”.
“Yeah, we just have a couple of technical, um.. you know, with the chain? And the wires? I think it has something to do with ANT+ and Bluetooth. Blocktooth! We’re gonna get it all hooked up real soon.”
