The signing fee for soccer star Lionel Messi’s two-year contract with French Ligue 1 club Paris Saint Germain (PSG) included the club’s cryptocurrency “fan tokens”.
“The coins are there to create a connection between the fans and the club and we have used them that way for the first time,” PSG said in a statement.
So what are these fan tokens?
Fan tokens are purely digital assets. It is a type of Non-Fungible Token (NFT). Just like bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, these fan tokens are volatile assets and their value changes overnight.
Fans all over the world can buy these fan tokens with real money and get access to the exclusive content of their favorite team. These fan token holders can also intervene in the smaller decision-making of their favorite club by casting their vote.
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Which teams have fan tokens?
Fan tokens aren’t just limited to soccer.
AC Milan, Inter Milan and AS Roma from Italy; Arsenal, Aston Villa, Manchester City from England; Barcelona and Atletico Madrid from Spain; Aston Martin F1 Team, Alfa Romeo Racing Team and the UFC are teams that have launched or are participating in their fan tokens.
Socios, a crypto platform that makes these fan tokens, claims that these tokens generated nearly $ 200 million in revenue.
Did PSG Pay Messi in crypto?
PSG welcomed Messi with fan tokens worth € 25-30 million. PSG called it part of Messi’s “welcome package” but did not disclose the exact proportion of tokens in Messi’s package.
Reading | Messi’s Paris-St-Germain package includes crypto fan tokens
Has this happened before?
Turkish club Harunustaspor claimed in 2018 that it was the first football club in the world to give Bitcoin to its players as part of the contract fee. As part of the deal, Omar Faruk Kiroglu received 0.0524 in Bitcoin and 2,500 Turkish Lira.
In January 2021, David Barral became the first player to be bought by cryptocurrency after signing up with the Segunda B-side DUX Internacional de Madrid.
Gibraltar United FC also announced in 2018 that they will pay their players with cryptocurrency.
The post Explained: What are “Fan Tokens” in Lionel Messi’s PSG package? first appeared on monter-une-startup.
