‘Bad Joke’: FC Barcelona Criticized for $22 Million Deal with Samoan Crypto Firm ZKP

European soccer membership FC Barcelona has come beneath criticism after signing a $22 million, three-year global sponsorship deal with little-known crypto agency Zero-Data Proof (ZKP), primarily based within the Pacific island of Samoa.

Xavier Vilajoana, a former board member of the membership, told the Monetary Occasions that putting a take care of the crypto startup was an indication of economic “desperation,” pointing to “pink flags” within the firm’s background and calling the choice “extremely regarding.”

In a tweet, Vilajoana pointed to how ZKP’s X account had solely 33 followers on the time of the official announcement of the partnership, and he criticized the corporate’s alleged affiliation with former kickboxer and controversial influencer Andrew Tate. Tate posted an endorsement of the Zero-Data Proof expertise on his X web page, which was later shared by the corporate on its Telegram web page, with a further ZKP brand.

“It looks like a foul joke, however sadly it is actual,” commented Vilajoana.

The membership, which is regarded as beneath extreme monetary stress, is holding €469 million of debt ($542 million).

Zero-Data Proof seems to have launched its social media channels and white paper early this November. Particulars about its possession and funding construction aren’t clear from its web site, although it says it’s regulated beneath Samoan regulation. The agency is presently within the means of conducting its preliminary coin providing. ZKP’s namesake cryptographic technology has been potential because the early ’90s.

The Monetary Occasions famous that it was unable to search out public details about among the agency’s administration, together with Jeff Wilck, its head of blockchain.

In an official statement, FC Barcelona mentioned it “has no connection in any respect with the corporate’s token,” and that the membership hasn’t mentioned the existence or issuance of this token throughout sponsorship discussions.

“The membership has no duty for, or involvement in, the issuance or administration of this token, nor does it use the related expertise,” mentioned the membership.

Harry Halpin, CEO of blockchain-privacy agency Nym Technologies, mentioned he could be skeptical of any firm “which appeared out of nowhere and claimed to supply privateness by way of zero-knowledge proofs.”

“There are solely about 50 programmers alive, I believe, who can truly perceive the maths and code production-ready zero-knowledge proof methods.”

He added that almost all of them already work at established corporations like privacy-centric Ethereum layer-2 Aztec, blockchain protocol Anoma, privacy-focused layer-1 blockchain Aleo, and the Electrical Coin Firm, which is behind the Zcash privateness coin.

He additionally identified that zero-knowledge proofs in and of themselves don’t essentially present anonymity robotically, because the IP addresses of these concerned should still be seen, therefore the usage of “mixnets” in some privacy-centric ecosystems.

Decrypt reached out to Zero-Data Proof for touch upon the broad criticism of the corporate and FC Barcelona’s assertion, however didn’t instantly obtain a response.

“No LinkedIn. No pitch deck. No press appeal offensive. Only a new blockchain, deployed Proof Pods, and 100% self-funded,” the corporate posted on X on Friday. “Perhaps what’s regarding trad media is that we skipped the PR recreation.”

Crypto and soccer

Crypto sponsorships have turn into near-omnipresent in European soccer in recent times.

Examine Europe’s analysis from earlier this month discovered that over a 3rd of groups in Europe’s 5 largest leagues are partnered with cryptocurrency or buying and selling corporations this season, rising to 70% within the UK’s Premier League.

Buying and selling platform eToro has signed offers with eight totally different golf equipment, and crypto exchanges Bitpanda and Kraken have signed 4 and three offers respectively with main European golf equipment.

In 2022, Bloomberg reported that Portugal’s Sporting Lisbon and Italy’s Spezia terminated their industrial relationships with Bitci.com, a Turkish-based crypto group, resulting from alleged non-payment.