Napoli's Kim Min-jae Shows Interest in 'Fan Token'... Rises 52% in One Day

Speculative Trading by Domestic Investors Joins In
Token Holders Can Participate in Club Policies

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Jung-yoon] As European and other overseas football gains popularity and national team defender Kim Min-jae shines in Italy, investors' interest is pouring into virtual assets related to Serie A club Napoli.

According to domestic virtual asset exchange Upbit on the 10th, as of 3 p.m. on the 9th, the price of Napoli fan tokens in the Bitcoin market surged 64.06% compared to the beginning of this month, reaching 0.00031554 Bitcoin (about 9,107 KRW). The Napoli fan token began to rise after recording 0.00020370 Bitcoin (about 5,905 KRW) on the 5th of this month. On the following day, the 6th, it rose 6.53% compared to the previous day, and on the 7th, it increased by 5.70%. Then, on the 8th, it surged by a whopping 52.27%. However, on that day, it also fell nearly 10% due to a correction following the recent surge, but it still recorded a high level compared to before.

As the price of Napoli fan tokens rose, fan tokens of other European professional football clubs also showed an upward trend. The Paris Saint-Germain fan token, a popular French club, recorded 0.00030908 Bitcoin (about 8,942 KRW) at 3:43 p.m. that day, down 0.25%, but rose 5.36% and 5.25% on the 7th and 8th, respectively. The Manchester City fan token, a popular English club, also rose more than 11% on the 8th. The Barcelona fan token in Spain rose 8.16% the previous day and increased by more than 5% in the afternoon of the same day.

Among overseas professional football club fan tokens, the price of Napoli fan tokens surged like this mainly because of the pouring interest from domestic investors. Not only is Kim Min-jae performing brilliantly, but expectations that the team will win the league are growing, attracting the attention of football fans to Napoli.

As the price of Napoli fan tokens showed an upward trend, domestic investors with speculative purposes also participated in trading, causing sharp price fluctuations. According to data from CoinMarketCap, a global virtual asset market relay site, Upbit accounted for more than 77% of the total trading volume of Napoli fan tokens. Also, when searching for the keyword "Napoli" in domestic virtual asset-related communities, related posts such as "Buy Napoli" and "Coiners are paying attention to Napoli now" were easily found.

Napoli defender Kim Min-jae is contesting the ball with AS Roma forward Tammy Abraham using their heads. [Image source=AFP·Yonhap News]

Interest in the football market in the virtual asset industry, including fan tokens, is hot. Fan tokens of Napoli, Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester City, Barcelona, and others were issued through Chiliz blockchain, created by entertainment and fintech company Chiliz. It is known that holding tokens allows fans to participate in club policies, but so far, the utility is low. Additionally, Chiliz selected Kim Min-jae as a brand ambassador for promotion both domestically and overseas.

Virtual asset exchanges have also invested. Crypto.com was selected as an official sponsor of the Qatar World Cup. Upbit signed a sponsorship partnership with Napoli, with the Upbit logo inserted on the lower back of the uniform and also displayed on the home stadium advertising boards. However, despite increased cooperation, there are forecasts that active sponsorships in the industry will decrease as the virtual asset market faces a crisis due to incidents like the FTX case.