FC Barcelona terminates two week old partnership with Ownix
FC Barcelona, has announced the termination of its deal with non fungible token (NFT) marketplace Ownix, following the arrest of an alleged crypto fraudster Moshe Hogeg, a consultant for the NFT marketplace. Hogeg was arrested by the Police alongside seven others for a massive crypto-related fraud.
The football club had announced a partnership with Ownix just two weeks ago, the partnership was supposed to allow fans to buy NFT for virtual items linked to the club’s history.
An NFT is a form of crypto asset which uses blockchain to record the ownership status of digital objects, such as images, videos and text.
FC Barcelona in a statement, explained the reasons for terminating the partnership: “In light of information received today that goes against the Club’s values, FC Barcelona hereby communicates the cancellation of the contract to create and market NFT digital assets with Ownix with immediate effect.”
Ownix responded to FC Barcelona’s action, in a tweet stating that it had terminated consultation services it provided to the alleged fraudster at the request of Hogeg himself. Further, the company distanced itself from having any connection with Hogeg and noted that he owns no share in the company.
It is worth noting that the FC Barcelona NFT series was set to feature digital trinkets of historic moments from the club’s 122-year history, which includes an illustrious trophy cabinet that features 95 domestic and international laurels, including 26 domestic league titles and five UEFA Champions League titles.
The market for NFTs has exploded in recent months. In March of this year, Christie’s auction house sold a digital work by the artist known as Beeple for almost $70 million. “Art is like football. Eternal,”Lionel Messi said on his Twitter account in early August announcing the launch.
Messi had launched his own collection of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), crypto art that was created with his image by digital designer BossLogic and will go on sale on Friday. Messi, 34, is portrayed as a king, superhero and Greek titan in works entitled “Man from the Future”, “Worth the Weight” and “The King Piece” that celebrate his career highlights. Meanwhile, several football clubs and stars have recently made partnerships in the NFT space.
