MUMBAI: European football powerhouses FC Barcelona and Manchester City have separately pulled the plug on recent sponsorship deals signed with cryptocurrency entities due to transparency concerns with their respective partner companies.
LaLiga giants Barcelona, which announced a partnership with Ownix on November 5 to create NFTs that fans could purchase using Ethereum, canceled its deal on Friday, stating: “In light of information received today (friday) that goes against the club’s values, FC Barcelona hereby communicate the cancellation of the contract to create and market NFT digital assets with Ownix with immediate effect.”
The club made the decision to cut ties after Moshe Hogeg, a businessman who provided consultation to Ownix, was arrested last Thursday for alleged fraud related to cryptocurrencies, The Times of Israel reported. As per Sport Techie, Hogeg is also the owner of Israeli football team Beitar Jerusalem.
In a similar development, English Premier League side Manchester City has suspended a partnership with a cryptocurrency startup 3Key Technologies, with which it inked a deal on 12th November.
The club released the following statement to UK’s Daily Mail: “Manchester City conducts due diligence in respect of all its partnerships.
“Manchester City’s partnership with 3Key Technologies has been announced but has not been activated in respect of any products or services in any part of the world.
“Prompted by the club’s interactions with 3Key Technologies in recent days, Manchester City is now conducting further enquiries regarding 3Key Technologies and the partnership has been suspended pending satisfactory resolution of all these enquiries.”
The club took the call to put the deal on ice after it emerged that 3Key’s executives had little if any digital footprints.
“The closest anyone has come to verified information is a photo of a man with a ginger beard in a checked suit who may or may not be 3Key’s ‘Chief Growth Strategist’ Jacob Caine,” UK’s The Guardian reported.
At the time the sponsorship was announced, the Premier League champions said the tie-up would see the decentralised finance (DeFi) trading analysis and advisory technology company become an official regional partner.
In addition to the brand featuring across a number of club digital assets, 3Key and Manchester City were set to collaborate on a series of content activations and events, raising awareness of 3Key software and products.
Stephan Cieplik, senior vice president of Global Partnerships Sales, City Football Group, had then stated: “We are delighted to launch this partnership with 3Key.
“As a global organisation, Manchester City is continually looking for ways to further build the club’s presence in international markets and we are excited to partner with 3Key in their journey to simplify the DeFi trading analysis user experience through the power of football to engage with our fans with a range of content and activations.”
