The news is incredible: Paris Saint Germain paid Leo Messi in cryptocurrency, more specifically, in $PSG fan tokens.
This is not a rumour but an official announcement. It is worth remembering that Leo Messi is one of the strongest players in the world and that these days he left FC Barcelona (where he played for almost 20 years), to join Paris Saint Germain with a two-year contract for 35 million euros.
The club said that in the welcome package, Leo Messi received a high number of $PSG fan tokens.
The tokens are issued by Socios (who are currently the main sponsor of Inter Milan). Paris Saint Germain has long used fan tokens to interact with their supporters.
The club’s intention is that the donation of a large package (the value of which is not specified) to Leo Messi should bind the player to his new public. One might say that there was no need to do anything at all: Paris has gone mad with joy over Messi’s arrival.
Marc Armstrong, Chief Partnerships Officer of Paris Saint-Germain said:
“Fully embracing Socios.com and $PSG Fan Tokens has proved a massive success for the Club. We have been able to engage with a new global audience, creating a significant digital revenue stream”.
Alexandre Dreyfus, CEO of Chiliz and Socios.com added:
“Paris Saint-Germain are reaping the rewards of their bold approach and I believe this could be the start of a new trend as Fan Tokens and Socios.com play an increasingly prominent role across sport at the very highest level”.
Market reaction to the news that Leo Messi will be paid in $PSG fan tokens
Unbelievable but true, the news is not doing well for $PSG which currently loses around 5%, dropping back to $40. It must be said, however, that the wait for the official announcement of Messi’s move from Barcelona to Paris had made the price rise in a short time: in a week, $PSG went from $21.97 to $61.23. It is therefore physiological that investors are now taking profits.
Paris Saint Germain has inaugurated a new era in football: paying players with fan tokens. And who knows, maybe this choice will be taken by other teams as well. For example, Socios is already a partner of renowned teams such as Juventus, Barcelona, Milan, Roma, Manchester City, Arsenal, Valencia and Atletico Madrid.
And if in the US there are already football players getting paid in bitcoin, something different is happening in Europe because fan tokens are a different matter. However, it is a clear sign that there is now an established relationship between sport and cryptocurrencies.
The post Leo Messi at Paris Saint Germain paid in $PSG fan token appeared first on The Cryptonomist.
