Messi NFTs & World Cup Fan Tokens Pump
The Argentine Football Association (ARG) fan token saw a surge in value after Argentina’s victory in the 2022 FIFA World Cup final against France, which took place in Qatar on Sunday. The token, which is issued via Chiliz’s Socios platform and resides on a sidechain forked from Ethereum, briefly increased in price from $4.01 to $5.02 within an hour of the win. However, it has since decreased to under $3.00 in the past 24 hours.
According to token tracking site FanMarketCap, the ARG token’s 24-hour trading volume reached a peak of $40 million. These fan tokens, which are traded through the Socios platform and offer holders access to merchandise and ticket promotions as well as the chance to vote on club changes, may also serve a speculative purpose.
Although France did not come out as the winner in the 2022 FIFA World Cup final against Argentina, which took place in Qatar on Sunday, several players on the French national team still managed to earn individual accolades. Lionel Messi, who has played for Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) since 2021 on a two-year contract, received the Golden Ball award for the seventh time. PSG teammate Kylian Mbappe, who plays as a forward for the French national team, also won the Golden Boot award after scoring three goals in the final match.
PSG’s president, Nasser Al-Khelaifi, is the chairman of Qatar Sports Investments, the investment group that owns the soccer club, which is a subsidiary of Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund. During the World Cup, the ARG fan token experienced significant fluctuations, particularly during Argentina’s only loss against Saudi Arabia.
So What Exactly Are These Fan NFTs
The ARG and PSG fan tokens are issued through the Socios platform, which lives on the Chiliz network. It’s essentially a sidechain that is derived from Ethereum. While these fan tokens may be primarily used for speculation, they do also provide some utility to the holders, providing them with access to merchandise and ticket promotions and also allowing them to vote on club decisions when traded through the Socios platform. It’s important to note that these tokens are not available for trade on the public Ethereum blockchain.
Messi NFTs
Argentina’s victory in the 2022 FIFA World Cup final has also caused a surge in activity for non-fungible tokens (NFTs) related to the country. In particular, Lionel Messi’s second official NFT collection with Ethernity, the Messi Time Machine Collection, has experienced significant resale volume in the past 24 hours. According to Ethernity, traffic to its marketplace tripled following the win. The “Lionel Messi: The King Piece” NFT saw nearly 40 ETH in trading volume over the past week, a 4,292% increase from the previous week, according to OpenSea.
Before the FIFA World Cup final, there was a spike in activity for NFTs related to Argentina, including a volume increase of over 28 ETH in less than 24 hours for the Messi Time Machine Collection on Ethernity. Following the win, there was a 13% increase in trading volume for this collection.
In addition, Ethernity held a fantasy sports-style bracket challenge for its community, with the top three participants winning a prize pool of 1000 ERN, the platform’s native token, and others eligible to receive physical sports jerseys. Another Argentina-themed NFT collection, The Argentinians Official, which was inspired by CryptoPunks and trended on OpenSea, saw a surge in activity on the night before the final after previously experiencing zero activity. However, this collection has since decreased by 46% in terms of trading volume.