The club disclosed on Thursday that Lionel Messi's transfer to Paris Saint-Germain included a payment in cryptocurrency fan tokens, delivering yet another high-profile endorsement for new digital assets.
On Tuesday, Messi, 34, announced his departure from Barcelona and signed a two-year contract with PSG, with a third-year option.
The tokens included in his "welcome package," or signing-on fee, were delivered by Socios.com, the club's fan token distributor, according to PSG.
The club did not say how much of the deal was made up of tokens, but he did say he received a "substantial quantity." It has also kept the whole financial deal a secret.
Fan tokens are a sort of cryptocurrency that allows holders to vote on a variety of minor club decisions. Manchester City, the English Premier League champions, and AC Milan, the Italian champions, are among the clubs launching tokens this year.
Fan tokens, like bitcoin and other digital currencies, are traded on exchanges. They also share a tendency for extreme price swings with other cryptocurrencies, prompting several regulators to issue investor warnings regarding digital assets.
Nonetheless, numerous high-profile corporate and entertainment leaders have expressed support for crypto assets, including Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, and rapper Jay-Z.
Following news of Messi's departure to PSG, the club reported there was a huge volume of trading of its fan tokens.
"The hype surrounding the latest signings in the club's busy summer transfer window created a huge surge of interest in $PSG Fan Tokens, with trading volumes exceeding $1.2 billion in the days preceding the move," it said.
The price of fan tokens may or may not be related to on-field performance or results.
PSG's token, which has a market capitalization of approximately $52 million, rose more than 130 percent in only five days amid speculation of Messi's coming, reaching an all-time high of more than $60 on Tuesday. According to the CoinMarketCap website, they were recently down 10% at around $40.