The signing of football star Lionel Messi at Paris Saint-Germain includes some cryptocurrency fan tokens of the French club, which is the latest big-name endorsement of new digital assets.
The 34-year-old Argentine left Barcelona, Spain, on Tuesday and signed a two-year contract with Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) in Qatar with the option of a third year.
Confirmed the Reuters exclusive report that PSG said on Thursday that these tokens were included in its "welcome package", which was estimated by media reports to be 2.53 billion euros (2.93 billion US dollars). The club did not disclose the proportion of tokens in the package, but stated that the amount was "large".
Fan Token is a cryptocurrency that allows holders to vote on small decisions related to their club. Clubs that launched tokens this year include Premier League champions Manchester City and Italy's AC Milan. Barcelona is Messi’s old club and it was launched last year.
Clubs increasingly see tokens as a new source of income. Socios.com, which provides tokens to PSG and other major clubs, stated that these tokens will generate nearly $200 million in revenue for its partner clubs in 2021, PSG has begun to make money from Messi’s transactions.
Like digital currencies such as Bitcoin, fan tokens can be traded on exchanges. What they have in common with other cryptocurrencies is price fluctuations, leading some regulators to issue warnings about digital assets to investors. Despite this, there are still several well-known business and entertainment figures that support crypto assets. Tesla boss Elon Musk, Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, and rapper JayZ have all voiced their support for Bitcoin.
PSG stated that after reports that Messi will join the club, the trading volume of his fan tokens is large. In the days leading up to the arrival of the winner of the Sixth World Footballer Award at the Golden Globes, the transaction volume exceeded $ 1.2 billion. PSG cooperation director Marc Armstrong (Marc Armstrong) said: "We have been able to interact with new global audiences, creating a considerable source of digital income."