Barcelona rejects lucrative cryptocurrency deal

Last month, news came out stating that FC Barcelona has struck a new sponsorship deal with Swedish streaming giant Spotify. However, it has now been revealed that the Catalan giants actually turned down several more lucrative offers from cryptocurrency companies due to a lack of confidence in the industry.

Barcelona's deal with current shirt sponsor Rakuten is set to expire at the end of the season, and it is no secret that the club had been looking for an opportunity to secure a lucrative new partnership that can help ease their financial problems. According to Marca, club president Joan Laporta and the club's board of directors rejected offers from the likes of Socios.com and Chiliz.net, who were ready to splash the cash plus Fan Tokens, which are a rapidly growing form of sports cryptocurrency.

"It is a speculative, risky, highly variable and unethical sector," said the club's board of directors about the cryptocurrency market. Apparently, the board decided to pass on a 70 million euro offer plus performance bonuses of up to 20 percent.

The deals were considered and even gained approval from some departments, but in the end, the board and the commercial department opted for a more conservative approach. The club opted to partner up with Spotify, who are also believed to be offering around 70-75 million euros. However, their deal does not only involve space in front of the men's and women's first-team shirt, they will also have their logo printed on the back of the training shirt. On top of that, many were surprised to learn that Spotify will also get the naming rights of the Camp Nou. That in itself s already worth as much as the shirt sponsorship.

This means that the deal is a bargain for Spotify, but Barcelona have decided that they would take the safer route. "The world of cryptocurrencies is completely new. And it is complicated, difficult, it can carry some negative risks for those who get into it if they don't know it well, and even if they do know it well," said Jose Parra, professor of blockchain at the Copenhagen Business School, as quoted by Marca.