FC Barcelona Under Fire For Signing Crypto Partner ZKP, Promoted By Andrew Tate

FC Barcelona has come under fire for signing a three-year sponsorship deal with a Samoa-based cryptocurrency firm promoted by the controversial influencer Andrew Tate.

The company, Zero-Knowledge Proof (ZKP), was following just three online accounts, FC Barcelona, Bitcoin, and Andrew Tate, when the deal was announced. The company discloses no leadership or ownership, while claiming $100 million in financing.

The move has intensified scrutiny of Barcelona’s search for revenue as the club navigates heavy debt and a costly stadium redevelopment, raising concerns it is taking commercial and reputational risks through an opaque crypto company.

“It seems like a bad joke, but unfortunately it’s real,” former Barcelona board director Xavier Vilajoana said on X, calling on the club to ”explain the due diligence process carried out before approving this agreement.”

Andrew Tate Links

Vilajoana demanded that Barcelona ”clarify if ZKP has any direct or indirect connection with Andrew Tate,” stating that the influencer has “faced charges for human trafficking, rape, and belonging to a criminal organization.” 

He added that since the announcement of the deal, ”Tate has posted a video promoting ZKP, adding even more public concern.”

He urged Barcelona to ”act with immediate transparency,” and explain what due diligence it had done before the agreement was signed.

While ZKP’s website claims a commitment to transparency, the company provides few details about who is behind it.  

“Everyone asks, ‘Who’s behind this?’ As if knowing the names would make the code stronger,” it said on its website. ”It won’t. We’re real — engineers, cryptographers, ex-founders, system killers. But we’re not playing the PR game.”

FC Barcelona’s Financial Pressure Grows

The move to partner with ZKP comes as FC Barcelona faces growing financial pressures. The root cause for the crisis is the club’s exorbitant spending on players, transfers and wages over the past decade. 

The financial pressure worsened with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted in matchday revenues collapsing. This hit the club especially hard, because these revenues had been among its major income sources. 

Over the years, the club has also been punished for repeatedly breaching Spanish football’s spending limit, with its latest accounts showing net debt of €469 million.

The club has also committed to a massive renovation project, Espai Barça, to rebuild and modernize Barcelona’s home stadium in Camp Nou. This move has placed a heavy long-term debt and financing burden on the sporting giant’s balance sheet, with financial records showing more than €900 million in stadium-related borrowing.

Barcelona has attempted to address its finances through asset sales, including portions of its long-term television income. However, the costly delays to its stadium renovation have escalated the urgency around revenue generation. 

The club had engaged in other Web3 ventures over the years, many of which have faltered. Despite the setbacks, Barcelona has maintained its digital initiatives. 

Barcelona sold its first non-fungible token (NFT) for $693K at Sotheby’s in July 2022. It also launched FC Barcelona Token through Chilliz and Socios in June 2020. These fan tokens sold out for $1.3 million in less than two hours. 

In the past year, the club’s fan token has seen its price plummet more than 73%, according to CoinMarketCap data.

FC Barcelona Fan Token price (Source: CoinMarketCap)