Estonia’s First Sports Club to Accept Cryptocurrency for Payments
Yolo Squash, Estonia’s newest premium squash club located in Tallinn’s T1 Mall, has made history as the first sports club to accept cryptocurrency for payments in Estonia, and potentially, the first squash club in the world. Founded by seasoned squash enthusiasts with nearly 30 years of experience in the sport, the club represents a unique blend of recreational and competitive squash in a world-class facility. By partnering with Swapin to accept payments in crypto, Yolo Squash is positioning itself at the forefront of sports industry innovation.
In this exclusive interview, Co-Founder Andri Talts discusses their journey from concept to reality, their vision for modern sports clubs, and why they chose to add crypto as a payment method.
The 17-year journey to reality
Q: How did Yolo Squash come to life? Can you tell us about your creation story and mission?
Andri: If we start from the very beginning, our creation story began about 17 years ago when we planned a squash club in Ülemiste City in 2007. Unfortunately, our venture coincided with the global financial crisis, and we decided to put the construction of the club on hold at that time. However, since the idea itself hadn’t disappeared and continued to smolder quietly, we kept looking for a new location where it would be possible to build our club.
In March 2023, this long-awaited opportunity finally opened up when we learned about T1’s plans to redesign the entire existing center and create opportunities for many sports. Since T1’s new concept and infrastructure supports various sports very well, including our own, plus T1 Center has a very important element for our sport – sufficient ceiling height – our decision to move forward with the club was made quite quickly.
I couldn’t have made this vision a reality without my co-founders Risto Rossar and Indrek Pitk. Together we’ve shared this dream through all the ups and downs. Since we have almost 30 years of experience in this sport and have seen many clubs around the world, we’ve gained plenty of ideas and information on how a club could and should be built, and also seen mistakes that shouldn’t be repeated. If we want to describe our vision very briefly, it would be that we want to create a club where both recreational and elite sport go hand in hand, plus an atmosphere that supports both. A club where you can come to spend time, even without playing squash every time, just meeting friends and spending quality time.
Prioritising client feedback for world-class experience
Q: What values and experiences do your clients appreciate most?
Andri: We sincerely hope that our clients’ and our values, such as the club atmosphere mentioned above, excellent service, world-class sporting opportunities, and overall well-thought-out infrastructure, would largely overlap – the feedback so far has largely proven that we’re on the right track. Naturally, we expect daily feedback from our visitors so that we can make our offered experience and service even better in any field.
Q: You’re now the first sports club in Estonia to offer cryptocurrency for payments. What motivated you to take this step?
Andri: The main motivation was innovation and the attempt to create new and interesting opportunities for our clients. Hopefully, this initiative will gain momentum and lead to further innovative steps.
Accept payments in crypto within minutes
Q: In which services or purchases do you see clients using crypto payments most in the future (court rental, coffee, products, etc.)?
Andri: The direct answer would be that we would like the technology to allow all the above-mentioned services to be used through crypto payments.
Q: Why did you choose Swapin as your partner?
Andri: Our first contact with Swapin’s CEO, Evald-Hannes Kree, took place during our organized Yolo Group squash tournament. Since our club and Swapin are both connected as partners to Yolo Group, we had a multi-layered contact and a good starting point for cooperation. Swapin has proven itself as a partner with good initiative and reliability – what more could we want!
An impressive crypto adoption
Q: How have clients received the new payment option so far?
Andri: Our payment option has been active for about 1.5 months, and since there hasn’t been any direct promotion or advertising campaign yet, the volume of payments is still in the initial stage. However, the payment option that has been implemented so far has come as a positive surprise to clients, and the reception has been very good.
Q: What would you tell other sports clubs or businesses in Estonia and worldwide who are considering offering crypto payments?
Andri: We believe that crypto as such is here to stay. It’s completely logical to keep up with the times and create opportunities that take into account contemporary trends and directions. That said, one could thoughtfully go even further and think that if technology allows settling for any services in crypto soon, then those who don’t do it will largely be left behind.
Cryptocurrency for payments made accessible
Q: What are your future plans? Any events or innovative solutions coming that you’d like to share with readers?
Andri: We try to develop our services further daily, keeping in mind all the above-mentioned values we want to offer as a club. Maybe in the future, squash coaches will be robots and we’ll play not with a rubber ball but with some kind of hologram – everything is possible. Today, we want to offer the best contemporary squash club experience – so everyone come and experience it for yourself!
A Word from Swapin CEO & Founder
Evald-Hannes Kree, CEO and Founder of Swapin, shared his thoughts on the partnership with Yolo Squash.
Q: What excites you most about partnering with Estonia’s first sports club to accept crypto?
Evald-Hannes: Yolo Squash perfectly represents the innovative spirit we love to see in Estonian businesses. They’re not just following trends – they’re setting them. Their vision of blending traditional sports with modern payment technology shows how forward-thinking businesses can enhance customer experience. We’re proud to support Estonia’s first sports club to accept crypto payments.
Leading Sports Innovation
Yolo Squash’s pioneering decision to accept payments in crypto demonstrates how traditional sports businesses can adopt new technologies to enhance customer experience and stay ahead of the curve.
Ready to bring crypto payments to your sports business?
Contact our team to discover how Swapin can help you.
Have questions? Reach out at sales@swapin.com.
Subscribe to our “Crypto payments for businesses” newsletter here and follow us on social media for the latest updates from Swapin.
