Lionel Messi To Release NFT Token Collection Amid Salary Cut

Barcelona and Argentinian soccer legend Lionel Messi is to be commemorated by a non-fungible token (NFT) collection for the first time.

Messi just signed a new five-year contract with FC Barcelona but will be taking a significant pay cut to continue playing for the club, and may as a result be looking for new ways to make money.

Via a partnership with blockchain platform Ethernity, the project, known as “The Messiverse” will allow fans to invest digitally in their favourite player.

To create the NFT, Messi has collaborated with an Australian digital artist known as Bosslogic, who is known to many for his works on Marvel’s Avengers franchise.

According to the art creator, the purchase of a collection of non-fungible tokens from the legendary striker will be available from 20^th August this year on the official Ethernity website. Bosslogic also specifies that the topic of the project will be Messi’s achievements, meaningful moments of his career, and team love.

According to the Beincrypto website, the collection from the legendary football player will contain three unique tokens. The first is called ”Man From the Future” and depicts Messi in a bionic suit with metallic shoulder pads and blue neon lights — definitely taking inspiration from the cyberpunk genre.

The second part of the collection is the “Worth the Weight” token, which presents the legendary player as the Greek titan Atlas, who carried the weight of the entire planet on his back. This artwork is probably an allegory for Messi’s professionalism and his significance as a player who carries the fate of his teammates on his shoulders.

The third NFT is “The King Piece,” a sketch in which Messi is presented as a king on a chessboard filled with gold pieces. This creation is an allegory that compares the legendary footballer to a leader who brings victory and personally decides the outcome of any confrontation that takes place within the field of play.

There will also be a fourth non-fungible token in the collection. However, all that is known now is that it will be released in late August this year.

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) come from the same technology with which bitcoin is based, the blockchain, which has the idea of ​​making any digital item has its authorship linked by its author or owner.

In Messi's case, the arts may have copies, but only original creations will have a high market value. It's the same idea tied to works of art, which, like NFTs, are non-fungible items.

A fungible item is one that can be exchanged for another item of the same value, such as a 1 dollar coin. In the case of works of art or special creations by Messi, each item has its own value and cannot be exchanged for an equal one.

This is not, however, the first time Lionel Messi has appeared in NFT form. Ethernity Chain dropped a collection last month to celebrate Argentina's victory over Brazil in Copa America, with one of the collectibles featuring Messi as the captain of the victorious team.