Since the club was founded in 1970, Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) has established itself as one of its top soccer teams. Now, it’s taking on a new venture in cryptocurrency. Its PSG fan token ($PSG) allows the club’s loyal fans to influence team decisions. It even gives users the chance to win exclusive opportunities, like meeting their favorite PSG players.
$PSG hit a new milestone in May 2022. Yahoo Finance reports that its market cap surged by 132.5% within just seven days, earning it a total value of $33.08 million. This development came as PSG lifted the Ligue 1 title.
PSG has helped establish crypto in the sporting world through the much-coveted fan token with this move. But how exactly did this world-class soccer club begin pioneering its acceptance and use? We aim to answer this particular question below.
The inspirational message
In January 2020, Chiliz announced the launch of $PSG. Chiliz — which we listed here on The Web Tribune as one of the best cheap cryptos with high growth potential — is the exclusive cryptocurrency of Socios, the world’s leading fan token platform. It’s also the only currency that can be used to buy these tokens.
$ PSG’s pilot project involved choosing an inspirational message to go on the armband of former captain Thiago Silva. In addition, the survey was presented as a means for fans to inspire him to lead his team to victory in the upcoming games.
You are a sportsbook owner who is struggling to keep up with the rapidly changing industry.
You have to implement new features, add new games, and deal with security issues.
The Aceperhead software allows you to manage your sportsbook without having to worry about any of these problems.
Today, $PSG holders are allowed the exclusive right to vote on both binding and non-binding team decisions through the Socios app. In addition, voting grants rewards points, which helps unlock those aforementioned exclusive opportunities — and further incentivizes fans to buy $PSG and participate in team decisions.
A Messi deal
It could be argued that $PSG didn’t truly take off until soccer star Lionel Messi signed a two-year contract with PSG in August 2021. In an unprecedented move, his welcome package included fan tokens equalling a reported $29-35m.
This proved highly successful for $PSG. Even before the deal was signed, $ PSG’s trading volumes exceeded $1.2 billion — and Fortune found that its value more than doubled. In a statement, Socios CEO Alexander Dreyfus said the deal could spark similar initiatives by other teams across various sports.
“I believe this could be the start of a new trend as fan tokens and Socios.com play an increasingly prominent role across sport at the highest level,” he told Reuters.
What’s to come
Since the $PSG launch and the significant exposure Messi gave the token last year, Socios has gone on to sign partnerships with effective teams and associations across multiple sports. Some notable names include the UFC, Formula 1, the NFL, and the NBA.
Meanwhile, PSG recently dominated Ligue 1 when they crushed Metz 5-0 on May 21 — and the team used its now-influential fan token to celebrate in the most interactive way possible. Marca reports that multiple surveys were released to give fans a hand in the festivities. The most dominant bunch read: “What music will be played when Marquinhos lifts the French League Champions trophy?”
Ultimately, PSG has helped blaze a trail for fan tokens to become a significant part of the sports world. And we can certainly expect to see substantial developments involving crypto and sports in the future.
