While completing the signing of free agent Lionel Messi on a two-year deal, Paris Saint-Germain included $PSG tokens - a cryptocurrency asset - in his contract with the French club. The club says it instantly ties him with millions of PSG fans around the world.
PSG launched the $PSG token back in 2018 with crypto platform Socios.com and it is powered by $Chiliz cryptocurrency. These tokens help fans in making some of the minor decisions related to the club, including choosing the club’s jersey colours, stadium music and logo among others things.
$PSG tokens work as a digital currency and have their own value. Fans can cash these in with the club or can run them through operations and decisions.
The Parisian club confirmed that the Argentine received a large number of ‘$PSG Fan Tokens’ as part of his welcome package. The club also mentioned that Messi’s arrival extended the trading volumes to $1.2 billion.
That's $PSG crypto coin, more than doubled since Messi was linked to the club!!! pic.twitter.com/MZmJOJpPvd
— Horcrux (@BlaugranaFC26) August 9, 2021
“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,” Marc Armstrong, chief partnerships officer of Paris Saint-Germain said.
Lionel Messi joined PSG as a free agent after Barcelona failed to hand him a contract extension. At PSG, Messi will earn a whopping £35 million a season but club President, Nasser Al-Khelaifi told reporters that the world will be in shock after knowing the financial revenues generated by the signing.
It is believed that PSG had put 150,000 Messi shirts on sale on their website and all of them were sold within seven minutes of going on sale.
“Regarding the financial aspect, I will make it clear — we know the rules of FFP and we will always follow the regulations,” Al-Khelaifi said during the unveiling.
“Before we do anything, we check with commercial, financial and legal people. We have the capacity. If we sign Leo, it’s because we can, otherwise we would not have done it,” he added.
Featured photo: AFP / Stephane de Sakutin
