European soccer membership FC Barcelona has come beneath criticism after signing a $22 million, three-year world sponsorship take care of little-known crypto agency Zero-Information Proof (ZKP), primarily based within the Pacific island of Samoa.
Xavier Vilajoana, a former board member of the membership, advised the Monetary Instances that putting a take care of the crypto startup was an indication of monetary “desperation,” pointing to “purple 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-Information Proof know-how on his X web page, which was later shared by the corporate on its Telegram web page, with an extra ZKP emblem.
“It looks as if a foul joke, however sadly it is actual,” commented Vilajoana.
Sembla un mal acudit, però malauradament és actual.
El FC Barcelona ha anunciat un acord de patrocini amb ZKP, una empresa de blockchain poc coneguda registrada a Samoa, una jurisdicció que la UE inclou a la llista de paradisos fiscals. En el second d’anunciar-se l’acord, el…
— Xavier Vilajoana (@XaviVilajoana) November 18, 2025
The membership, which is considered beneath extreme monetary strain, is holding €469 million of debt ($542 million).
Zero-Information 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 strategy of conducting its preliminary coin providing. ZKP’s namesake cryptographic know-how has been doable because the early ’90s.
The Monetary Instances famous that it was unable to search out public details about a number of the agency’s administration, together with Jeff Wilck, its head of blockchain.
In an official assertion, FC Barcelona stated 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 know-how,” stated the membership.
Harry Halpin, CEO of blockchain-privacy agency Nym Applied sciences, stated he can be skeptical of any firm “which appeared out of nowhere and claimed to offer privateness by way of zero-knowledge proofs.”
“There are solely about 50 programmers alive, I think, who can really perceive the mathematics and code production-ready zero-knowledge proof programs.”
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 be seen, therefore the usage of “mixnets” in some privacy-centric ecosystems.
Decrypt reached out to Zero-Information 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 attraction offensive. Only a new blockchain, deployed Proof Pods, and 100% self-funded,” the corporate posted on X on Friday. “Possibly what’s regarding trad media is that we skipped the PR recreation.”
Crypto and soccer
Crypto sponsorships have develop into near-omnipresent in European soccer in recent times.
Examine Europe’s evaluation 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 completely 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, as a consequence of alleged non-payment.
Each day Debrief Publication
Begin each day with the highest information tales proper now, plus authentic options, a podcast, movies and extra.