Barcelona distances itself from sponsor’s cryptocurrency after backlash

The Spanish soccer large Barcelona has informed followers it has “no connection in any respect” with the digital coin supplied by its new crypto associate, following criticism over the deal.

Golf equipment typically choose up sponsors in uncommon areas to herald extra cash – with Arsenal bringing in Persil as its cloth care associate in 2023, and Kellogg’s turning into Manchester Metropolis’s breakfast cereal associate that very same 12 months.

However far much less is understood about Zero Information Proof (ZKP), which signed a three-year sponsorship deal in mid-November with Barcelona.

ZKP then introduced a cryptocurrency, prompting considerations Barcelona followers might be led to spend money on it – main the membership to distance itself from the coin.

“The membership has no duty for, or involvement in, the issuance or administration of this token, nor does it use the related expertise,” the membership mentioned in a press release on its web site.

Little is understood about ZKP, which additionally introduced an analogous sponsorship cope with Australian rugby league staff Dolphins in early November.

On its web site, it says the venture has been based and developed by “a pseudonymous collective” primarily based throughout “a number of jurisdictions”.

In different phrases, the agency shouldn’t be revealing the names or areas of these behind it.

College of Sussex professor Carol Alexander mentioned the Barcelona model provides huge visibility to crypto corporations like ZKP – however there’s “substantial threat for supporters who purchase the tokens”.

“Sponsorship creates an aura of credibility, even when the underlying venture is opaque,” she informed the BBC – saying this meant followers and supporters must be “very cautious”.

“Earlier than shopping for any crypto asset they need to ask who controls it, the place the documentation is, and what recourse they’ve if it fails,” she mentioned.

“With ZKP, none of these solutions are clear.”

Particulars about ZKP are few and much between, with the agency even claiming it has no single headquarter.

However the Monetary Occasions reported an earlier model of the corporate’s phrases listed an workplace positioned in Apia, the capital of Samoa.

The ZKP identify can also be the time period used to explain a sort of expertise designed to boost the privateness of a blockchain – a digital document of transactions which underpins cryptocurrencies.

Its cope with Barcelona comes because the soccer membership is reportedly going through an uphill wrestle to lift income and relieve its debt.

“Barcelona’s funds lately have been perilous, so the membership seems to have adopted a technique of ‘financial institution the cash first, ask questions later’,” mentioned soccer finance knowledgeable and writer Kieran Maguire.

He informed the BBC “crypto merchandise search legitimacy and normalisation from people who speculate on their merchandise”.

To associate with a soccer membership, notably one as well-known as Barcelona, “helps obtain these ambitions,” he mentioned.

And former Barcelona youth participant Xavier Vilajoana, who reportedly is bidding to be its subsequent president, referred to as on the membership to make clear how the deal had come about in a put up on X.

He additionally requested the membership about ZKP’s relationship with self-proclaimed misogynist Andrew Tate – one among solely three X accounts the crypto agency follows on the platform.

The BBC has approached Barcelona for a response.