eSports.com AG Files for Insolvency: Another ICO Fail

eSports.com AG, a German content website and cryptocurrency effort, has filed for insolvency.

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This was hardly a minor venture.  Last year the company sponsored Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team Astralis for $2 million over a three year period.

eSports.com AG, however, was only started in 2017.

It also got mired in a cyryptocurrency initial coin offering or ICO for its Esports Reward Token (ERT), which could be used to purchase planned coaching lessons and training videos from its website, as well as bet on matches.  The betting component was later dropped.  The company claims it raised $5.8 million for the ICO.

eSports Observer also noted the following discrepancy found with the ICO:

Additionally, the ICO funding site initially claimed that the $20M hard cap was reached at the end of the campaign, but the final total was later confirmed to be $5.8M; eSports.com blamed a display issue for the incorrect sum.

eSports.com AG had also forged a partnership wtih ProSiebenSat.1, a sports business unit of a German media firm.

ProSiebenSat.1 issued this statement regarding the eSports.com AG insolvency:

“The insolvency concerns eSports.com AG. ProSiebenSat.1 has no direct business relationship with eSports.com AG. The joint venture operated jointly by eSports.com AG and ProSiebenSat.1 Sports GmbH (eSports.com GSA GmbH) is not directly affected by the insolvency. Our goal is to continue operating the eSports.com platform in German-speaking countries as before.

“As we are not part of the insolvency proceedings, ProSiebenSat.1 cannot make any statements on this matter.

“The insolvency of eSports.com AG has no impact on the eSports strategy and activities of the ProSiebenSat.1 Group.”