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FC Barcelona has come underneath hearth for signing a three-year sponsorship cope with a Samoa-based cryptocurrency agency promoted by the controversial influencer Andrew Tate.
The corporate, Zero-Information Proof (ZKP), was following simply three on-line accounts, FC Barcelona, Bitcoin, and Andrew Tate, when the deal was introduced. The corporate discloses no management or possession, whereas claiming $100 million in financing.
The transfer has intensified scrutiny of Barcelona’s seek for income because the membership navigates heavy debt and a pricey stadium redevelopment, elevating considerations it’s taking industrial and reputational dangers by an opaque crypto firm.
“It looks as if a nasty joke, however sadly it’s actual,” former Barcelona board director Xavier Vilajoana stated on X, calling on the membership to ”clarify the due diligence course of carried out earlier than approving this settlement.”
Sembla un mal acudit, però malauradament és actual.
El FC Barcelona ha anunciat un acord de patrocini amb ZKP, una empresa de blockchain poc coneguda registrada a Samoa, una jurisdicció que la UE inclou a la llista de paradisos fiscals. En el second d’anunciar-se l’acord, el…
— Xavier Vilajoana (@XaviVilajoana) November 18, 2025
Andrew Tate Hyperlinks
Vilajoana demanded that Barcelona ”make clear if ZKP has any direct or oblique reference to Andrew Tate,” stating that the influencer has “confronted prices for human trafficking, rape, and belonging to a felony group.”
He added that for the reason that announcement of the deal, ”Tate has posted a video selling ZKP, including much more public concern.”
He urged Barcelona to ”act with speedy transparency,” and clarify what due diligence it had carried out earlier than the settlement was signed.
Whereas ZKP’s web site claims a dedication to transparency, the corporate offers few particulars about who’s behind it.
“Everybody asks, ‘Who’s behind this?’ As if figuring out the names would make the code stronger,” it stated on its web site. ”It received’t. We’re actual — engineers, cryptographers, ex-founders, system killers. However we’re not enjoying the PR sport.”
FC Barcelona’s Monetary Stress Grows
The transfer to accomplice with ZKP comes as FC Barcelona faces rising monetary pressures. The foundation trigger for the disaster is the membership’s exorbitant spending on gamers, transfers and wages over the previous decade.
The monetary strain worsened with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted in matchday revenues collapsing. This hit the membership particularly laborious, as a result of these revenues had been amongst its main revenue sources.
Through the years, the membership has additionally been punished for repeatedly breaching Spanish soccer’s spending restrict, with its newest accounts displaying web debt of €469 million.
The membership has additionally dedicated to an enormous renovation challenge, Espai Barça, to rebuild and modernize Barcelona’s dwelling stadium in Camp Nou. This transfer has positioned a heavy long-term debt and financing burden on the sporting large’s steadiness sheet, with monetary data displaying greater than €900 million in stadium-related borrowing.
Barcelona has tried to handle its funds by asset gross sales, together with parts of its long-term tv revenue. Nevertheless, the pricey delays to its stadium renovation have escalated the urgency round income era.
The membership had engaged in different Web3 ventures through the years, a lot of which have faltered. Regardless of the setbacks, Barcelona has maintained its digital initiatives.
Barcelona bought its first non-fungible token (NFT) for $693K at Sotheby’s in July 2022. It additionally launched FC Barcelona Token by Chilliz and Socios in June 2020. These fan tokens bought out for $1.3 million in lower than two hours.
Prior to now 12 months, the membership’s fan token has seen its worth plummet greater than 73%, in response to CoinMarketCap information.
FC Barcelona Fan Token worth (Supply: CoinMarketCap)
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