Latest news about Bitcoin and all cryptocurrencies. Your daily crypto news habit.
FC Barcelona, the Spanish Soccer giant, is planning to create its own cryptocurrency and its own metaverse. The Soccer giant took this step to survive financially against clubs owned by big corporations and investors. During the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, its President Joan Laporta said that he rejected offers from crypto enterprises because FC Barcelona wants to develop its own cryptocurrency. FC Barcelona is owned and operated by its fans, unlike other major soccer clubs. The club is governed by 160,000 members rather than industry giants or stakeholders. It was the most valuable soccer club on Forbes 2021 list. Barcelona also plans to launch NFTs (non-fungible tokens) in the near future. Laporta suggested that the soccer club is adopting new media technologies to help with its finances.Â
Earlier in November, FC Barcelona announced that it would be issuing NFTs based on videos and photos of the most exciting moments in the club’s history. It partnered with Ownix, a marketplace on Ethereum blockchain, to issue the NFTs. However, this contract was canceled in the same month due to charges of cryptocurrency fraud on Moshe Hogeg, the advisor of the partnership. Since then, the soccer giant has turned down offers from other cryptocurrency companies. With this latest announcement, Barcelona is planning to ramp up its efforts again to create its own cryptocurrency and issue NFTs. However, further information on how those tokens will be used. It is not clear that they will be in the form of tokens like those offered by Socios or would be used for buying their merchandise or paying for tickets. Â
European Soccer Clubs Jump on the Crypto Bandwagon
It is no surprise that most of the major soccer clubs in Europe are embracing digital coins and fan tokens to better engage with their fans. The global pandemic gave a big push to this crypto hush because fans were locked up at home and were not able to go to the stadiums and watch their favorite players. The digital tokens have allowed fans a new way to engage and become involved with minor decisions like which songs are being played during matches or which pictures are used on social media. The pandemic has dramatically affected the revenue of the soccer clubs, with no fans attending the matches. This reduced the revenue of the top-20 European soccer clubs by 12%.Â
Some of the teams that have launched tokens include English Premier League champions Manchester City, France’s Paris Saint Germain (PSG), and Italy’s AC Milan. Fan tokens can be traded like cryptocurrencies on exchanges. These clubs say that fan tokens have helped them boost revenue and increase fan engagement. Prices of these tokens depend on a number of things and are often prone to fluctuation. For instance, the value of the PSG token doubled in less than 72 hours after Lionel Messi, the soccer superstar, agreed to be partly paid in cryptocurrency.Â
The partnership between crypto companies and soccer clubs has been mutually beneficial. Soccer teams are able to better engage with their tech-savvy fans and attract even more followers. For crypto companies, they are able to attract and expand their audience and market their services to them.Â
These fan-tokens have become quite popular with soccer fans. Estimates are that the fans have spent millions of dollars on such fan tokens. BBC news estimated that Socios sold $270-300 million worth of fan coins and tokens. There are several perks for soccer fans holding these tokens. They can gain discounts while purchasing tickets and merchandise and the possibility to win tickets. However, the perks are decided by each soccer club issuing those tokens. And as such, the perks of the cryptocurrency and the NFTs issued by FC Barcelona will be determined by its members later.Â
Recently, UEFA, the governing body of European soccer, has partnered with Socios.com to issue fan tokens. Socios is a fan engagement and rewards platform which allows fans to trade fan tokens and game cards representing soccer players. In just 2020, the sales volume of its game cards grew by 1000%. It has partnerships with the most prestigious soccer clubs, including Juventus and PSG. With this new partnership with UEFA, Socios will become the regional sponsor for Champions League in the US.
The NFT Craze
All the 20 clubs in the Premier League are exploring the possibility of launching their own NFTs. These NFTs can be any digital asset in the form of pictures, videos, or GIFs that can be sold or bought. The CEO of Capital Block, Tim Mangnall, is advising these clubs on how they can launch their NFTs. They are looking at every aspect of soccer experience ranging from ticketing to collecting and creating historical collectibles, launching shirts and mini-gamification, locker to store NFTs, and managing rewards.Â
Magnall believes that NFTs should be seen as a vehicle for driving fan engagement rather than an investment opportunity. If harnessed in the right way, it has the potential to become one of the most novel ways of engaging with the fans, especially the younger ones.Â
Manchester City, Rangers, and Juventus have issued their own NFTs, and some fans have already spent thousands of dollars to claim unique ownership of the digital images and videos of their favorite sports stars. An NFT collector Mike Bousis spent $40,000 to collect five NFTs. The National Basketball Association (NBA) was the first one to sell videos and clips of their basketball players as NFTs. Besides that, Sorare has been offering collectible cards of players as NFTs. Since their launch, fans have spent almost $142 million on buying them.Â
The above discussion demonstrates that soccer clubs are quickly embracing cryptocurrencies and NFTs to stay in touch with innovation and their tech-savvy fan base. However, it is for time to decide whether this craze can be sustained over time or get lost in the momentum. As for now, it seems like every prestigious club wants to jump on the crypto bandwagon and harness the opportunities that blockchain and crypto have to offer.Â
Â
Author Bio
Ian Kane is the Co-Founder at Unbanked, a global fin-tech platform built on blockchain. Kane has worked in technology & digital media for over 10 years with a heavy focus on business development, sales, and strategy. His diverse professional background enables him to bring unique insight and experience to every challenge he takes on.
Disclaimer
The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not reflect the views of Bitcoin Insider. Every investment and trading move involves risk - this is especially true for cryptocurrencies given their volatility. We strongly advise our readers to conduct their own research when making a decision.