Not only is the World Cup in Qatar heating up, the cryptocurrency market for fans is also active.
Some of the world’s biggest football clubs have long launched crypto tokens for their fans, including Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester City, Inter Milan and Atletico Madrid, as well as the national teams. Market cap coins in Portugal and Argentina hover around $7-21 million.
According to Kaiko, a Paris-based crypto data company, the average daily trading volume of the national football team’s token during the World Cup in November has increased to about $300 million, 10 times that before the World Cup started.
Kaiko analyst Dessislava Aubert said that for fans, the tokens provide an opportunity to interact with the team, as they have the chance to win prizes or vote on songs played by the club. For investors, tokens offer new investment opportunities.
However, those who purchased the team's tokens still faced a downward trend in the market.
According to data from CoinGecko, the market value of the team token increased from US$256 million to US$401 million at the start of the World Cup, but then fell below US$300 million.
Lionel Messi's Argentina token fell 25% to $5.26 after a shock defeat to Saudi Arabia in their opening World Cup match. However, despite Argentina's subsequent victory over Mexico, it fell another 22%.
Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal token, which rose 119% to $7 in the 10 days before the tournament, has since lost almost half its value despite Portugal remaining undefeated and top of the table at this year's World Cup.
According to researchers, the wave of purchases of World Cup team tokens has been greatly influenced by multiple scandals in the crypto market, with the collapse of the FTX exchange earlier this month being one example. Additionally, Bitcoin prices fell to a two-year low around $16,300.
Sportzchain CEO Siddharth Jaiswal said fans should not buy tokens at this time if it is just to make money.
Markus Thielen, Head of Platform Research at Matrixport, commented: “Interest in football tokens is likely to be short-lived. Companies and teams must provide more value to their fans, otherwise their fans will lose interest after the World Cup.