Football Crypto: European Clubs Created a Virtual Assets Speculative Market

Industry News

January 5, 2022Upd on April 17, 2023

As of now, 24 football clubs in Europe’s top 5 leagues have either issued or are preparing to issue their own cryptocurrency for their fans, creating an uncontrolled and speculative market. These are claims made in an interview with BBC News.

The Socios platform, where the bulk of club cryptocurrencies are traded, estimates this quasi-market to be worth $1.9 billion. Over the course of the company’s existence, it generated $350 million in sales.

As part of a fan loyalty program, some clubs gave tokens to fans. When buying season tickets, a fan gets the option to “purchase” the privilege to choose a song from the club’s stadium or other perks.

Club virtual assets are mostly traded as cryptocurrencies, and their value is based on the supply and demand for them on exchanges. Approximately $130 million worth of Lazio cryptocurrency was sold last year, according to a study done by crypto experts at Protos.

According to statistics from CoinMarketCap, the value of Manchester City’s tokens has fallen by 70% since their introduction. Inter Milan and Trabzonspor’s cryptocurrencies rose in value more than the price of bitcoin over the course of one year.

According to Protos, the use of these virtual assets has been higher than expected, considering the nature of the assets. One of the market’s unique qualities is the small number of players (80% of tokens are held by clubs to control the price). To entice speculators, the price swings are fairly rapid. In addition, this area of the market is not regulated by law, thus there is a substantial risk of financial loss.

It was originally meant to be used for the selling of club tokens as a remembrance, CEO Max Rabinovich stated, according to the BBC. In reality, it is a cryptocurrency exchange. Coins like Binance’s and Bitce’s club cryptocurrencies, on the other hand, have long since advanced beyond this level.

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