One of the wealthiest football clubs in the world, Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), is teaming up with a Maltese blockchain startup to launch a cryptocurrency for its fans, per French media outlet Capital.
The club, which last year paid FC Barcelona USD 257 million to make Brazilian forward Neymar the most expensive player in football history, has struck a deal with a company named Chiliz, the operator of the Socios blockchain-powered platform Socios.
PSG – the reigning champions of France – say fans will be able to buy tokens via a mobile application that will be launched in spring 2019.
The club says that token holders will be afforded voting rights on PSG-related questions – and that the more tokens a voter has, the more their vote will count for. However, the club says token-holders will not be able to have a say in key decisions such as player transfers. Instead will be able to influence decisions on issues like where friendly matches should be held, or what the next club jersey should look like.
Token holders will also be able to “benefit from exclusive offers,” says PSG, and will be eligible for exclusive ticket offers and player-fan meetings.
Fans will be able to make purchases via card purchases on the app, or via cryptocurrency exchanges, and Chiliz says the tokens will help the club “engage with fans, not just in Paris, but also globally – particularly in Asia.”
PSG are seven-times French league winners, and won the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup in 1996. In 2011, they were bought by a business group affiliated with the Qatari royal family.
Capital quipped, “PSG may have failed to win the Champions League, but they will always be able to claim they were the first club to introduce a cryptocurrency!”