The Sacramento Kings are now mining Ethereum, the team announced on Wednesday. They are the first sports team entering the crypto space, and in doing so are introducing crypto to sports fans and offering a local group that supports black communities to buy and sell ether.

Tech-Savvy MBA Team Enters the Crypto Space

The American basketball team the Sacramento Kings reportedly started mining ether three weeks ago using Nvidia mining rigs. The owner of the NBA team, Vivek Ranadive, is also a computer software entrepreneur, and founder of Tibco. The Sacramento Kings have been praised by the magazine Fast Company's annual ranking of the world's Most Innovative Companies in Sports.

The home of the Sacramento Kings is now a crypto mining facility

In 2014, the Kings became the first NBA team to accept bitcoin as payment at its goods store and for season tickets.

Vivek Ranadive was quoted saying that the team was a big fan of Ethereum, and wanted to do something to give back to the local community. "It was obvious to us," he said, "let's start mining cryptocurrency." The profit from the mining would go to a local group that supports blacks communities as part of a charity program.

Mining Crypto with Solar

The Golden 1 Center, an indoor arena, home to the Sacramento Kings, has a solar paneled rooftop that can generate up to 1.2 megawatts. Installing solar power was part of the Sacramento Kings ownership's goal to have the country's most technologically advanced entertainment center.

The tech-savvy NBA team's business executives said that the mining project has no direct association with basketball at the moment, but they are confident that when players come to Sacramento they will be aware they can be introduced to new technologies and to tech companies.

Earlier this week, GMO Coin, a Japanese cryptocurrency exchange company, introduced the world of sports in Japan to crypto by sponsoring a local baseball team, the Chiba Lotte Marines. "I think cryptocurrency will increasingly be more familiar to our fans," Toshihiro Sorimachi, a spokesman to the Japanese baseball team told news.Bitcoin.com in an interview. "There aren't any players currently holding cryptocurrencies in the team," Sorimachi said, "but there are many players here who are interested in the virtual currency technology," he added.