In Brief:
- As per BBC world’s biggest football teams have made a fortune from fan tokens.
- Virtual currencies have cost more than $350 million in total.
- 24 clubs across several European leagues have launched or are considering launching fan tokens.
According to the BBC, the world’s biggest football teams, FC Barcelona and Juventus FC have made a fortune from fan tokens.
BBC said, “Analysis commissioned by BBC News estimates more than £262m ($350m) has been spent on the virtual currencies.”
24 clubs across many European divisions have announced or are considering issuing fan tokens, according to the BBC.
Eight of these clubs compete in the Premier League of England, which is widely regarded as the most prominent soccer league in the world. Some clubs, such as Manchester City, also sell digital collectibles known as NFTs.
The emergent trend has been centred on Socios, a startup that provides a platform for the initial selling and trading of these customised cryptocurrencies.
According to the BBC, Socios has sold between $270 million and $300 million worth of coins so far, without specifying how much money goes directly to the teams.
Lazio, Manchester City, Porto, and Santos, according to the BBC, have appeared to produce the greatest sales. However, since their inception, the tokens associated with Manchester City and Lazio have lost the most value.
A West Ham United supporter, Sue Watson, told the BBC, “My knowledge of the crypto market is sketchy to say the least – and I’m probably representative of a large number of run-of-the-mill football supporters who are not traders on the crypto market,”
Martin Calladine, a football writer, put it this way, “Some people are going to be making a lot of money out of it – but it almost certainly isn’t going to be the average football fan on the street.”
Earlier, Socios.com partnered with the 2021 Ballon d’Or Awards to signify the return of football’s most coveted individual awards which will be celebrated during this year’s ceremony.
Anyways, some football fans feel about fan tokens as they are part of a larger trend in which crypto and sports are getting more interwoven.
