One of the world’s most famous and recognizable athletes and sports celebrities, Cristiano Ronaldo, made headlines after some news regarding him and cryptocurrency was revealed. The Juventus F.C. star had been paid around 770 JUV fan tokens for every senior goal successfully scored in his career in the Italian football league, Serie A.
Ronaldo is the first football star to be paid ever in cryptocurrency, and it has sparked a debate around whether crypto can be utilized within the world of professional football now too, as it has already made its way to other sports such as basketball in the NBA and combat sports in the UFC.
Ronaldo becomes the world’s first football player to be paid in cryptocurrency
Many would not argue the idea that Cristiano Ronaldo is already one of the all-time greats when it comes to football. Having displayed a natural talent for the sport at a very young age, he was quickly picked up by Manchester United F.C in England before making the jump to one of the world’s richest and most extravagant clubs in Real Madrid F.C in Spain. The Portugal native has thus enjoyed a successful career, even if he has begun to slow down a bit on the field due to his age and long-term wear and tear on his body.
Still, this has not stopped his current team of Juventus F.C to reward the star for his efforts in cryptocurrency. To this end, the club has utilized the fan token known as JUV to pay him for his recent efforts. JUV had been launched in 2019 on the CHZ (Chiliz) blockchain, in association with Socios.com.
Interest in fan tokens increases across several football leagues
As of the time of this writing, Juventus F.C is not the only team to have its own fan token, as many clubs across a multitude of countries have them. Fan tokens have become common nowadays, especially with the rise of cryptocurrency’s popularity in general. In fact, since the beginning of this year, CHZ’s dollar value has risen to well above 2,500%, whereas its market capitalization has increased from $100 million to a whopping $4.5 billion, although it has now fallen close to $3.2 billion.
Ronaldo’s long-time rival Lionel Messi’s team of F.C. Barcelona also have their own fan token, known as BAR, leading many to wonder if he could also be paid in crypto in the near future.
