Crypto currency coming to Wolves?
Football clubs have found many ways to exploit their loyal supporters; ever increasing ticket prices, changing club shirts every season, membership schemes, ticket booking fees, overpriced club merchandise, inflated match day drink and food prices, mascot packages and the hated ‘half and half scarf are all examples of how the football money making machine sees supporter loyalty as a ‘cash cow’ to fund the excesses of the game.
The latest money-making scheme is crypto currency, luring supporters to buy fan engagement tokens as part of a wider crypto currency trading platform. Supporters are enticed by being given ‘free tokens’ and encouraged to buy more, with an indication of future trading profits alongside direct access to influencing club decisions through fan engagement. The more tokens you buy the greater the influence.
It’s all smoke and mirrors, at the heart of the supporter crypto currency offering are ‘hardnosed’ financial operators seeking to make easy money on the back of naïve football supporters. It’s akin to gambling; trading crypto currency is recognised as addictive as gambling, with the real risk of sustained financial loss.
Many Premier League clubs have already introduced ‘Fan Engagement’ Crypto Currency trading offers and it looks like it's coming to Wolves soon:
Last week Bloomberg reported that a planned Bitci.com fan token for Premier League football team Wolverhampton Wanderers had not yet been launched despite a sponsorship agreement in June. The team is still carrying out due diligence, people familiar with the situation said last week. Wolves declined to comment.
Bitci Chief Executive Officer Onur Altan Tan said by text on Friday that everything was still on track with the Wolves token. “It is on the way,” he said.
Well, if the club are in any doubt that this will be an unwelcome move they should take time to consider the experience of West Ham’s owners - https://thefsa.org.uk/news/west-ham-end-controversial-blockchain-partnership/ - scrapping their relationship with socios.com in July last year after a supporter campaign ‘don’t pay to have your say’.
Wolves 1877 Supporters' Trust are opposed to any form of ‘Fan Engagement Tokens’ being introduced at Wolves. We are seeking assurances from the club.
Further reading:
https://www.wolves1877trust.co.uk/news/the-emergence-of-the-cryptocurrency-based-fan-token
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-59596267
Neil Dady – Wolves 1877 Trust Board Member