A Turkish amateur league football club has transferred a player by paying him with Bitcoin, in what the club chairman said is the first signing of a player in cryptocurrency.

Harunustaspor chairman Haldun Sehit told Turkey's state-run Anadolu Agency late Tuesday that the club paid player Omer Faruk Kiroglu 2,000 Turkish liras worth of Bitcoin (0.0534 Bitcoin) in addition to 2,000 Turkish Lira ($540).

Sehit told Anadolu the club decided to sign Kiroglu with the cryptocurrency to make the team known “in Turkey and the world.” Sehit said: “God willing, Bitcoin will bring us the championship.”

The club competes in the first division of Sakarya's Amateur League.

Bitcoin, the world’s most popular virtual currency, allows people to buy goods and services and exchange money without involving banks, credit card issuers or other third parties.

It has a fuzzy history, having been used by hackers to demand ransom and for the purchase of illegal drugs online. But recently it’s become more popular with a different crowd: speculative investors.