Critics fear FC Barcelona’s crypto deal could mislead fans into risky investments

Barcelona is under fire after signing a crypto sponsorship with a barely-known start-up called Zero-Knowledge Proof, registered in Samoa.

Fans and experts are raising alarms that the club is ignoring red flags just to scrape together more money, and that this deal might push supporters into buying risky crypto tokens without proper information.

The three-year agreement, unveiled this month, names ZKP as Barcelona’s official blockchain technology partner. The firm had no presence online until that moment. It announced the deal in its very first post on X, with just a handful of followers watching. It was a quiet debut for a company now claiming links to one of the world’s top football brands.

ZKP sells tokens while hiding its leadership

ZKP’s name comes from a cryptography method that lets someone prove they own something or have funds, without showing personal data.

But beyond the name, the company hides almost everything. Its website says it supports transparency, yet gives no details on the people behind it or who gave them the $100 million it claims to have raised.

Even the legal terms point to Samoa’s jurisdiction, far from any major financial hub.

“Everyone asks, ‘Who’s behind this?’” the site says. “As if knowing the names would make the code stronger. It won’t.” The company claims to be made up of engineers, cryptographers, “system killers” and former founders.

But they’re not “playing the PR game,” as they put it. Meanwhile, they held their first token auction last Thursday, offering up 200 million zero knowledge proof coins to the public.

Martin Calladine, who wrote a book about crypto scams in football, said this partnership is “deeply concerning.” He compared it to previous shady sponsorships between clubs and sketchy crypto firms.

He also warned that fans could be pushed into buying coins that “could easily end up being worthless.”

And because of the deal, ZKP will now have access to advertise directly to Barcelona’s massive fanbase through the club’s digital channels.

Red flags mount as ties to Tate and offshore firms emerge

Soon after the announcement, controversial influencer Andrew Tate posted a video on X encouraging people to use “zero knowledge proof privacy systems” to hide crypto from tax authorities. Though Tate never named the company, ZKP shared a version of the video, with their logo attached, on its Telegram. On X, the suspicious ZKP account follows only three people: Tate, Barcelona, and Bitcoin.

Xavier Vilajoana, a former Barcelona board member now running for president against Joan Laporta, asked what due diligence was done before signing this deal. He called the agreement “a sign of desperation.”

In his words, “It is incredibly concerning that Barca’s leadership would choose to associate the club with a company whose background raises so many red flags.”

Barcelona only released a statement on Wednesday trying to draw a line between itself and ZKP’s token sale. The club said it had “no connection whatsoever” to ZKP’s token, had “no responsibility” for the coin, and wasn’t using “the associated technology.”

A now-removed section of ZKP’s terms of service said the company’s legal name was Braxova Ltd, a Samoan-registered firm listed at the office of a business consultant in a two-story building in Apia, the country’s capital. That reference has since vanished.

ZKP insists it has no fixed office because it’s a “decentralized project” with contributors in many countries. Their press release also quoted someone named Jeff Wilck, said to be the “head of blockchain,” but the Financial Times allegedly could not find any public information on him.

His name closely resembles Jeffrey Wilcke, an Ethereum co-founder, but there’s no proof they are the same person.

This sponsorship comes while Barcelona is still paying the price for a failed transfer strategy between 2017 and 2019. That spree pushed the club deep into financial trouble. It’s since been punished for breaking La Liga’s spending limits and had to sell top players just to stay afloat.

As of the latest report, the club holds €469 million in net debt, plus €900 million more tied to stadium renovations.

Barcelona has tried to survive by selling assets, like future TV rights. But delays to the stadium project have made it harder to bring in fast money.

And the club’s track record with tech isn’t great either. It had to book a €141 million loss last year when investors failed to pay for a stake in Barca Vision, a digital unit that was supposed to lead its NFT and metaverse projects.

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