Paris Saint-Germain Confirms Football Star Lionel Messi's Pay Package Includes Crypto Fan Tokens

Football mega star Lionel Messi officially joined Ligue 1 giants Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) on Tuesday after his 21-year-long association with his boyhood club, Barcelona, came to an abrupt end last week. Messi's contract with the French team is reportedly worth $1.4 million per week.

Former Barcelona talisman and Argentina skipper Lionel Messi's financial package with PSG will include its crypto currency known as the "PSG Fan Tokens", the club has revealed in an official statement. 

"This initiative positions Paris Saint-Germain once more as one of the most innovative and avant-garde brands in sport globally," the Paris-based club stated o

Inside Leo Messi's unveiling day. ❤️💙#PSGxMESSI pic.twitter.com/zR96mo4H5I

— Paris Saint-Germain (@PSG_English) August 11, 2021

As part of Messi’s package for signing the psg, he is set to receive PSG fans tokens, do you understand what that means for the whole goddamn crypto industry ?@DareToken @binance @cz_binance #Crypto @Norbeegh @Kemzy___ @obrytafarms

— Thomas Badu, (@Thomascrypto98) August 12, 2021

The 34-year-old Messi, who parted ways with the former La Liga champions Barcelona, agreed to a two-year deal with PSG, and has the option to stay in the French capital for another year.

According to PSG, the crypto fan tokens are a part of Messi's "welcome package" and have been provided to the six-time Ballon d'Or winner by the club's fan token provider -- Socios.com.

"Fan Tokens and Socios.com play an increasingly prominent role across sport at the very highest level," Alexandre Dreyfus, the CEO of Socios.com, said about Messi receiving tokens as part of his deal.

While PSG has not revealed the overall pay package they have offered to Messi, the club did disclose that the Argentine has received a "large number" of crypto tokens.

The holders of fan tokens, a kind of a cryptocurrency, are allowed to vote on club decisions but only on minor issues.

PSG is not the only football club which is currently dealing in crypto currency. English Premier League Champions Manchester City and Serie A team AC Milan launched tokens earlier this year.

Like all other digital currencies, including Bitcoin, fans can trade these tokens via exchanges.

Similarly, like Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies, fan tokens could see monumental surges in their valuations, a trend that has been noticed in the past few years.

There was a huge amount of interest in Messi even before his arrival at the Parc des Princes, and PSG claimed that the club's fan tokens registered a high volume of trade, before he was formally unveiled in front of the fans on Wednesday.

"The hype surrounding the latest signings in the club's busy summer transfer window created a huge surge of interest in $PSG Fan Tokens, with trading volumes exceeding $1.2 billion in the days preceding the move," PSG said.

Reports suggest PSG's fan tokens are worth $52 million, but have seen an extraordinary rise of 130 percent in their market valuation in the last five days, since the speculation of Messi's arrival in Paris intensified.

They were trading at around $40, according to cryptocurrency market tracker CoinMarketCap, on Thursday.