Sacramento Kings Become First NBA Team To Mine Cryptocurrency
Jun 28, 2018, 12:00 AM | Updated: Jan 4, 2019, 11:30 am
(Photo Credit: Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
The Sacramento Kings have to be one of the most tech-savvy groups in the NBA.
What began with a solar-powered arena, to bitcoin, has now evolved into into mining cryptocurrency. This moves the Kings to become the first team in the world to mine digital currency, per Forbes.
The Kings announced on Wednesday that they are partnering up with MiningStore.com, a global currency leader.
Reported by Wired Magazine and ESPN, the Kings were the first team in the world to accept bitcoin.
“We have always pushed the envelope when it comes to innovation […] We were the first team to utilize Twitter, to utilize Google Glass for home-games, and dronetechnology. But, it wasn’t until we opened our arena, the Golden 1 Center, that fans and the NBA saw how we could utilize technology and innovation, making it a core component of our business.”
–Ryan Montoya, Kings Chief Technology Officer
The push for technology innovation began with the Kings owner and Chairman Vivek Ranadive, to help the team in its mission to revolutionize the world and the local community.
“Opportunity begins when technology allows the world to find innovative solutions to complex problems”
–Vivek Ranadive, Sacramento Kings Owner and Chairman
The Kings are set to install cyrptocurrency mining machines at Golden 1 Center.
Montoya has stated the arena plays host to something similarly expected at Google or Amazon, there will be a Tier-4 data center.
The Kings partnered with Build. Black. Coalition. in efforts to help support workforce development and technology education programs around the Sacramento area.
“It was an easy call, because it had everything to do with our data center at Golden 1, and everything to do with the systems MiningForGood utilizes; the bandwidth and solar power allows the organization to give back to the community, primarily the Build. Black. Coalition.”