Kieran Maguire: ‘Highly volatile’ partner is ‘using’ Arsenal as ruling body comes down hard
Crypto companies are using the likes of Arsenal to lend legitimacy to their “highly volatile and easily manipulated” products.
That is the view of finance guru Kieran Maguire, speaking exclusively to Football Insider about Arsenal’s fan token partnership with Socios.
Arsenal signed with the firm, who purport to offer fans a voice on club matters through the purchase of tokens, in August this year.
Per The Guardian last Wednesday (22 December), the Advertising Standards Agency has banned two Arsenal promotions from their new partner.
The pair of online adverts were ruled to be misleading and “taking advantage of customers’ inexperience or credulity”.
Maguire insists that Arsenal have got into bed with Socios because they, like many others, have peaked in terms of income from traditional sources.
“Crypto is an unregulated, highly volatile, easily manipulated market,” he told Football Insider‘s Adam Williams.
“If you enter it with that knowledge then it’s a classic case of ‘buyer, beware’. Its claim about fan engagement is very vague and difficulty-worded.
“But what crypto companies are doing is using sport as a bridgehead to gain credibility and legitimacy for their product.
“The likes of Arsenal have a challenge because they can’t realistically make more money from ticket sales.
“Therefore, you have to look for another income stream.
“For clubs with an international fanbase, it is frustrating because they are not monetising these people.
“How can they extract money from football fans? Offer them something else that isn’t related to matchdays, such as crypto.”
Arsenal pocketed £142.3million in commercial income in their last set of accounts.
That made it the Gunners’ biggest income stream, although broadcast income was hampered by rebates to television companies.
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