Paris Saint-Germain paid Lionel Messi in $PSG Fan Tokens

As part of his wage package, Messi was handed an undisclosed amount of the club’s fan tokens that tie the Argentine legend with Paris St-Germain fans around the world.

“The move further positions Paris Saint-Germain as one of the most innovative and avant-garde sports franchises in the world. Token implementation comes as a great illustration of the way the Club is constantly finding ways to increase and diversify its revenue streams to continue developing as a global brand,” the club said in a statement.

Fan Tokens for Paris Saint-Germain ($PSG) are listed on the world’s leading exchanges, including Binance. At the time of writing, the 24 hour volume for $PSG stands at $357 million, while its market cap is around $125 million, according to market data aggregator Coinmarketcap.

Sports fan tokens are utility tokens that provide users of a blockchain platform with exclusive access to voting rights, VIP rewards, AR features, superfan recognition, and promotions.

The price of sports fan tokens is not necessarily tied to the team’s match results or performance. Rather, the digital assets are often dependent on the overall utility of the tokens and the demand for them from crypto investors or fans.

This is not the first interaction between Lionel Messi and the blockchain world. Earlier in 2017, SIRIN LABS, developer of the SOLARIN ultra-secure mobile phone, signed the former Barcelona star as its brand ambassador.

While some, out of curiosity, were speculating how much the deal did cost SIRIN LABS, the firm has not revealed an exact figure. Others may have wondered about the rationale behind spending big money to sign the Argentinian footballer, who is widely considered the world’s best.

FC Barcelona, where the 34-year-old footballer spent his whole career, also launched its own crypto token on two fan-engagement platforms, Chiliz.net & Socios.com.

Italian football club Juventus also partnered with blockchain gaming company Sorare to enable fans to acquire tokenized digital collectible cards of its world-famous players such as Cristiano Ronaldo. The Paris-based company expands its presence with one of Europe’s football giants while also maintaining similar partnerships with AS Roma, Schalke, West Ham United, Napoli, among others.