European soccer club FC Barcelona has come under criticism after signing a $22 million, three-year global sponsorship deal with little-known crypto firm Zero-Knowledge Proof (ZKP), based in the Pacific island of Samoa.
Xavier Vilajoana, a former board member of the club, told the Financial Times that striking a deal with the crypto startup was a sign of financial “desperation,” pointing to “red flags” in the company's background and calling the decision "incredibly concerning."
In a tweet, Vilajoana pointed to how ZKP's X account had only 33 followers at the time of the official announcement of the partnership, and he criticized the company’s alleged association with former kickboxer and controversial influencer Andrew Tate. Tate posted an endorsement of the Zero-Knowledge Proof technology on his X page, which was later shared by the company on its Telegram page, with an additional ZKP logo.
“It seems like a bad joke, but unfortunately it's real,” commented Vilajoana.
The club, which is thought to be under severe financial pressure, is holding €469 million of debt ($542 million).
Zero-Knowledge Proof appears to have launched its social media channels and white paper early this November. Details about its ownership and funding structure aren’t clear from its website, though it says it is regulated under Samoan law. The firm is currently in the process of conducting its initial coin offering. ZKP’s namesake cryptographic technology has been possible since the early ’90s.
The Financial Times noted that it was unable to find public information about some of the firm’s management, including Jeff Wilck, its head of blockchain.
In an official statement, FC Barcelona said it “has no connection whatsoever with the company’s token,” and that the club hasn’t discussed the existence or issuance of this token during sponsorship discussions.
“The club has no responsibility for, or involvement in, the issuance or management of this token, nor does it use the associated technology,” said the club.
Harry Halpin, CEO of blockchain-privacy firm Nym Technologies, said he would be skeptical of any company “which appeared out of nowhere and claimed to provide privacy via zero-knowledge proofs.”
“There are only about 50 programmers alive, I suspect, who can actually understand the math and code production-ready zero-knowledge proof systems.”
He added that most of them already work at established companies like privacy-centric Ethereum layer-2 Aztec, blockchain protocol Anoma, privacy-focused layer-1 blockchain Aleo, and the Electric Coin Company, which is behind the Zcash privacy coin.
He also pointed out that zero-knowledge proofs in and of themselves don’t necessarily provide anonymity automatically, as the IP addresses of those involved may still be visible, hence the use of “mixnets” in some privacy-centric ecosystems.
Decrypt reached out to Zero-Knowledge Proof for comment on the broad criticism of the company and FC Barcelona's statement, but did not immediately receive a response.
"No LinkedIn. No pitch deck. No press charm offensive. Just a new blockchain, deployed Proof Pods, and 100% self-funded," the company posted on X on Friday. "Maybe what’s concerning trad media is that we skipped the PR game."
Crypto and soccer
Crypto sponsorships have become near-omnipresent in European soccer in recent years.
Investigate Europe’s analysis from earlier this month found that over a third of teams in Europe’s five largest leagues are partnered with cryptocurrency or trading firms this season, rising to 70% in the UK’s Premier League.
Trading platform eToro has signed deals with eight different clubs, and crypto exchanges Bitpanda and Kraken have signed four and three deals respectively with major European clubs.
In 2022, Bloomberg reported that Portugal's Sporting Lisbon and Italy’s Spezia terminated their commercial relationships with Bitci.com, a Turkish-based crypto group, due to alleged non-payment.
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