Messi effect drives PSG’s shirt sales and cryptocurrency
As Lionel Messi was officially unveiled as a Paris Saint-Germain player on Wednesday, the French club's jerseys with his name and the number 30 emblazoned on the back were snapped up by hundreds of fans.
Many of them queued outside the club store at the Parc des Princes before dawn, prompting an employee to say: "It's the first time we've ever seen this."
Costing 87 euros (S$138.50) for children, 108 euros for women and 158 euros for men, the shirt sales sent the cash registers into overdrive.
But that was not all.
Since ending his 21-year association with Barcelona, the 34-year-old Argentinian star has also caused ripples in the digital sphere, with the latest news that his transfer to PSG includes a payment in cryptocurrency fan tokens.
Such fan tokens allow holders to vote on mostly minor decisions related to their clubs.
Like bitcoin and other digital currencies, fan tokens can be traded on exchanges. As their prices can fluctuate wildly like other cryptocurrencies, regulators have warned investors about such digital assets.
The price of PSG's fan token rallied this week on rumours of the Messi deal, with new sales generating around 30m euros and PSG taking an unspecified majority of that amount - at least 15m euros, a source with knowledge of the matter said.
PSG declined to comment on that, but said that trading volumes exceeded US$1.2 billion (S$1.6b) in the days preceding the move and confirmed that "a large number" of tokens were included in Messi's "welcome package," which has been estimated at 25-30m euros.
Meanwhile, Messi, who is on a two-year deal reportedly worth about 35m euros a year, took part in his first training session at PSG's Camp des Loges facility yesterday.
He was seen doing some individual running after meeting new teammates, such as strike partner Kylian Mbappe. - AFP, REUTERS
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