Lionel Messi became the first footballer in history to receive Paris Saint-Germain fan tokens as part of his signing bonus.
On August 5, Barcelona announced that Messi would not sign a new contract with the club. Following this, rumours began to spread about a move to PSG. Subsequently, Barcelona president Joan Laporta confirmed this information.
PSG officially unveiled Messi on August 10. The footballer signed a two-year contract with an option to extend for one year.
A new 💎 in Paris !
PSGxMESSI ❤️💙 pic.twitter.com/2JpYSRtpCy
— Paris Saint-Germain (@PSG_inside) August 10, 2021
In the club’s statement, Messi’s ‘welcome package’ includes $PSG Fan Tokens (PSG), issued on the Socios.com blockchain platform. PSG did not disclose what percentage of the bonus was paid in digital assets, but noted that the footballer received them ‘in large quantities’. The amount of the reward was also not disclosed.
As rumours about Messi’s contract signing circulated, the PSG token began to rise. Over the past week its price rose more than 80%, according to CoinGecko. On August 10, the asset’s quotes briefly rose above $60.
As of writing, the token was trading near the $41.
Earlier this month, Messi announced the release of his own NFT collection The Messiverse, with Bosslogic as the artist. On August 20, the tokens will appear on the Ethernity Chain platform.
Feliz de presentarles mi primera colección oficial de #NFTs disponibles en #Ethernity. ⚽️ Seguí a @EthernityChain y preregístrate en https://t.co/rWaa0Dd99N para participar en el #Messiverse. Arte x @Bosslogic. pic.twitter.com/wBGr4iYMP7
— Leo Messi (@Ieomessiok) August 4, 2021
Earlier in July, the launch of fan tokens on Socios.com was announced by football clubs Inter and Arsenal.
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