LONDON: Paris St. Germain may have made more than 15 million euros from the sale of fan tokens as rumors of the signing of Barcelona legend Lionel Messi circulated over the past week.
PSG sold about 30 million euros of the tokens over the past week, about half of which was pocketed by the club, Reuters reported, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter. The crypto tokens surged 130 percent in five days, reaching a record $60 on Tuesday before trading at $40 on Thursday, according to CoinMarketCap data.
Messi, who joined the Paris club on Tuesday, received a “significant” amount of his 25-30 million euros welcome package, PSG said on Thursday. Trade in the tokens surged to $1.2 billion in the days leading up to his signing.
Fan tokens are a type of cryptocurrency that allow holders to vote on mostly minor decisions related to their clubs. Among clubs to launch tokens this year are English Premier League champions Manchester City and Italy’s AC Milan. Messi’s former club Barcelona launched one last year.
Like bitcoin and other digital currencies, fan tokens can be traded on exchanges. They also share in common with other cryptocurrencies a tendency for wild price swings, leading some regulators to issue warnings to investors about digital assets.
“We have been able to engage with a new global audience, creating a significant digital revenue stream,” said Marc Armstrong, PSG’s chief partnerships officer.
HEIST REVERSED
Elsewhere in the crypto universe today, hackers behind one of the biggest ever digital coin heists have now returned over half of the $610 million-plus they stole, the cryptocurrency platform targeted by the hack said on Thursday.
Poly Network, a platform that facilitates peer-to-peer transactions, said on Twitter hackers had returned $342 million of the currencies stolen. Some $268 million worth of tokens are still outstanding, it said.
Poly Network, which allows users to transfer or swap tokens across different blockchains, said on Tuesday it had been hit by the cyberheists, urging the culprits to return the stolen funds.
On the main cryptocurrency markets on Thursday, bitcoin gave up some of its recent gains, losing 4.7 percent to $44,279.93 as of 3:27 p.m. in London, while ether fell 5.7 percent to $3,062.49.
According to a press release issued on Thursday, the brokerage arm of Singapore’s DBS Bank has received approval “in principle” from the Monetary Authority of Singapore under the country’s Payment Services Act to begin providing crypto services to asset managers and companies.
In 2019, the city also passed a payment law requiring all digital payment service providers to have a license to operate. CoinDesk has reported
In South Korea, electronics giant Samsung Electronics plans to be part of the Central Bank of Korea’s digital currency pilot project, testing the bank’s digital currency display functionality using its Galaxy smartphone. According to a report in the Korea Times on Thursday, CoinDesk
Jeff Bandman is a former senior CFTC official who is currently the director of Bandman Advisers on crypto-related amendments introduced in the Senate.
” Here’s the silver lining, if the US government believes it will collect $28 billion in taxes from the cryptocurrency industry in the next 10 years, then the cryptocurrency is here to stay and will be a new cornerstone of the American economy.”
In China, the central government continues to tighten regulations on the cryptocurrency industry as it released a five-year plan calling for tighter regulation across industries, indicating that the crackdown that has shaken investor confidence in the market will not abate soon.
Coding in real estate is an “inevitable next chapter, and the emergence of new secondary markets for digital real estate assets could mean increased liquidity and efficiency, lower costs and improved efficiency through the use of ‘smart contracts’ that can replace heavy and cumbersome paperwork on investors,” according to a report published by Moore Intelligence.
Nasdaq-listed auto insurance company Metromile has announced that it has purchased $1 million worth of bitcoin.
The company also plans to become the first insurance company to offer policyholders the option to pay in bitcoin or dollars. Bitcoin.com has reported.
Shark Tank star Kevin O’Leary has taken a stake in crypto exchange FTX and signed a multi-year deal to become its ambassador and spokesperson.
