Barcelona Football Club, a major professional football club based in Barcelona, Spain, announced on Monday that it is planning to develop its own cryptocurrency and launch a variety of its NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens).
Joan Laporta, the President of Barcelona FC, confirmed the development. Since his re-election in March 2021, the executive revealed that several crypto firms had approached Barcelona over a potential partnership. The prominent leader further disclosed that the club had rejected such advances to create its own in-house digital currency. Laporta said the club wants to be innovative in such an approach to make extra revenue streams outside football.
While speaking at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona yesterday, Laporta highlighted his vision and stated that the club is currently taking steps to build a metaverse filled with a cryptocurrency and a collection of NFTs unique to the Blaugrana brand.
“We’re developing our own metaverse, [which is why] we rejected the chance to be associated with any cryptocurrency enterprises. We want to create our own cryptocurrency, and we have to do that ourselves. We are different because we survive financially from what we can generate through the sport. We do not have big corporations or shareholders behind us. That forces us to be imaginative, innovative, brave and be a step ahead in many areas that surround the sports industry,” Laporta elaborated.
Barca is currently exploring ways to monetize the supporters who follow the club worldwide to boost its financial position. Laporta mentioned that the crypto venture is something that the club can share with its fans around the globe, about 300 million of them.
“The players know what we’re working on, that this is a modern club that makes use of new media. There are clauses in their contracts related to the NFT world and the metaverse.” Laporta further highlighted.
The executive said that the club wants to create new growth opportunities. He said that although the club’s aim is to win titles and make its fans happy, they have to profit from possibilities in the sports industry.
Rejecting “Unethical” Crypto Deal
Late last year, Barcelona terminated its deal with NFT marketplace Ownix. The club announced the arrest of an alleged crypto fraudster Moshe Hogeg, a consultant for the NFT marketplace. The Police arrested Hogeg together with other seven individuals for massive crypto-related fraud.
Barcelona partnered with Ownix two weeks before the termination. The football club terminated the partnership because of its information, which is termed ‘goes against the Club’s values.’
The Barca formed the partnership to allow its fans to purchase NFT for virtual items linked to its history.
As reported by Blockchain.News on November 5th 2021, Barcelona partnered with Ownix to launch NFTs bought using a digital currency known as Ethereum. The NFTs would have enabled people to purchase digital certificates of authenticity of virtual items linked to the team’s history.
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