- Argentine soccer star Lionel Messi to receive payment in cryptocurrency tokens as part of his move from Barcelona to French club PSG.
- The old-fashioned methods of raising capital from expansion are outdated and a growing number of companies harness the enormous potential of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies.
Paying Argentine soccer star Lionel Messi in Ethereum-based cryptocurrency highlights that cryptocurrencies are now almost universally recognised as the future of money, chief executive and founder of deVere Group said.
World’s biggest footballer will receive payment in cryptocurrency tokens as part of his move from Barcelona to the French club Paris Saint-Germain (PSG).
Nigel Green said that PSG only disclosed that the actual amount in fan token is ‘significant’, but media reports are estimating that the amount could be between 25 to 30 million euros.
The club says fan tokens will help in closing the star player with millions of PSG fans.
Manchester City launched its fan token in March using the same technology.
The fan token, created by crypto platform Socios, is a type of non-fungible token (NFT) that is mostly built on Ethereum-based blockchain technology.
Like Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, fan tokens are also considered a digital asset, and they trade on exchanges.
One can buy fan tokens against real-world money for various reasons including becoming a part of the key decision-making process through voting.
PSG fan token prices surge
The trading volume of PSG fan tokens exceeded 722 million euros before Messi’s arrival and new sales generated about 30 million euros. The token price surged close to 130 per cent in five days amid reports of Messi’s arrival.
“They are doing this as a way to drive interest and investment into the clubs. If anyone still doesn’t believe that cryptocurrencies are the future of money, investments and raising capital, they are “already considerably behind the curve,” the CEO said.
“Digital, borderless money in our increasingly digitalised world makes sense, especially at a time when traditional currencies have been devalued by governments printing unprecedented amounts of them.”
Demographics are also on the side of cryptocurrencies; he said and added that millennials – who are beneficiaries of the largest-ever generational transfer of wealth, predicted to be more than $60 trillion from baby boomers to millennials over the next three decades – have grown up on technology.
“Cryptocurrencies are, by their very nature, tech-driven and their long-term trajectory is secure but digital assets are more than a form of payment and a store of value in the usual sense,” Green said.
The deVere CEO also believes that increasingly they will be used by businesses to raise capital.
“We can expect a growing number of companies to harness the enormous potential of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies. Times are evolving, and the old-fashioned methods of raising capital from expansion are outdated.
“Moving forward, it will become standard for business leaders to be seeking to raise significant capital and awareness for their organisations – thereby providing considerable growth opportunities – in a cost-effective way through establishing their own digital tokens.”
Those who do not see digital assets as the future for money, investments and raising capital are, Green believes, already considerably behind the curve.