Crypto-wibble and non-fungible nonsense
An argument for cryptocurrencies, the blockchain and non-fungible tokens is that they may one day democratise finance, and place wealth in the hands of those who previously had little access to resources. An alternative argument is that it’s all a Ponzi scheme where all but a select few will lose their shirt. Recent crashes in the crypto market suggest the latter is the more likely. Still, there’s money to be made in the interim, and football’s unrelenting lust for get-rich-quick schemes makes it an ideal breeding ground for crypto-wibble. It’s become ubiquitous. VAR in Serie A is sponsored by a crypto exchange, Manchester City signed up and then hurriedly binned a crypto partner that had no digital footprint, Paul Pogba flogged “dragon eggs” and then John Terry got in a bit of lumber for shilling NFTs that included official logos he didn’t have permission to use.
Whenever a footballer signs up for social media, the immediate suspicion now is that they will soon enough start flogging an NFT. And so it proved with Son Heung-min just the other week. Meanwhile, clubs have freely got into bed with crypto companies, some of which purport to offer buyers the chance to “be more than a fan”, to use the strapline of Socios, which allows fans to buy “virtual tokens”, and has a linkup with Lionel Messi. One day, when the full glory and scope of the metaverse has been realised, all this may make sense. For the moment, crypto…
