The signing on fee of football star Lionel Messi’s two years contract with Ligue 1 French club Paris Saint Germain (PSG) included cryptocurrency “fan tokens” of the club.
"The coins are there to create a link between the fans and the club, and it's the first time we have used them in this way," PSG said in a statement.
So, what are these fan tokens?
Fan tokens are digital-only 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 around the world can purchase these fan tokens with real money and can get access to the exclusive content of their favourite team. These fan token holders can also include in the minor decision makings of their favourite club by casting their votes.
Which teams have fan tokens?
Fan tokens are not limited to football only.
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 their fan tokens or are getting into it.
Socios, a crypto platform that creates these fan tokens, claims that these tokens have been able to generate a revenue of close to $200 million.
Did PSG pay Messi in crypto?
PSG welcomed Messi with fan tokens which have a reported value of 25-30 million euros. PSG called it a part of Messi’s "welcome package” but did not reveal the exact proportion of the tokens in Messi's package.
Has this happened before?
Turkish club Harunustaspor claimed in 2018 that it is the first football club in the world which gave its players Bitcoin as a part of the signing fee. As a 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 purchased by cryptocurrency after signing in with Segunda B side DUX Internacional de Madrid.
Gibraltar United FC also announced in 2018 that they will be paying their players with cryptocurrency.