The signing of Lionel Messi at PSG is decidedly out of the ordinary in many ways.
The Parisian club revealed, Thursday, August 12, that the Argentinian player's contract contained an amount paid in the form of the club's cryptocurrency.
According to Paris Saint-Germain, this is the first time that a club has included "fans tokens" in a player's signature.
"The integration of 'PSG Fan Tokens' into the player's package creates an immediate link with the community of millions of supporters around the world," PSG wrote in a statement.
"The creation of Token illustrates the club's constant inventiveness to diversify, optimize its sources of income and continue its development as a global brand."
PSG teamed up with the Socios.com platform to create this virtual currency in 2018. This digital asset gives supporters who buy them a vote and gives them the opportunity to be associated with certain decisions in life of the club.
They can, for example, choose the message displayed on the locker room wall to motivate the players before a decisive match, vote for the goal of the season or even designate the winners of the end-of-season prizes, explains PSG.
Several football clubs have launched their own cryptocurrency, including - for the most recent - Britain's Manchester City and Italy's AC Milan.
The rising token price
It is mostly a highly speculative currency, which can be bought and sold in the markets.
Some financial regulators have already warned about the risks of these investments.
PSG did not specify the part of Lionel's remuneration devoted to "fan tokens", but indicates that the latter received "many" when signing his contract.
The striker signed a two-year contract with an option for an additional season, after the end of his contract at FC Barcelona where he had so far spent his entire career.
Since the announcement that Messi will be leaving Barcelona, the $ PSG token has appreciated by 139%
This crypto developed by @socios (who signed a license agreement with PSG) reacts to real events of the clubs, like an action
It mainly used to participate in the life of the club pic.twitter.com/Kn6ZaJwfez
- Grégory Raymond (@gregory_raymond) August 9, 2021
The "PSG Fan Token" course ignited with the announcement of the arrival of the football player in Paris.
Trade volumes exceeded $ 1.2 billion in the days preceding his arrival, said PSG.
According to the price on the Binance platform, the "fan token" was up 6% on Thursday at 40.44 dollars, after peaking at 62 dollars on August 10.
With Reuters
The summary of the week
France 24 invites you to come back to the news that marked the week
I subscribe
Take international news everywhere with you!
Download the France 24 application
google-play-badge_FR