Liverpool Could Become The First Premier League Club To Have Cryptocurrency As Main Shirt Sponsor

Liverpool are reportedly in talks with a cryptocurrency firm to be the club's main shirt sponsor from next summer.

The Reds have been sponsored by banking and financial services company Standard Chartered since the start of the 2010-11 season.

But that £40m-a-season deal is set to expire at the end of the 2022-23 campaign.

David Ornstein has reported that Liverpool are in talks with “a crypto exchange firm - a platform to buy and sell digital currency - and a blockchain platform (a decentralised computer network that underpins cryptocurrencies).”

The potential sponsorship deal could earn Liverpool more than £70m in two seasons but is likely to be controversial, given the environmental concerns and lack of regulation surrounding cryptocurrencies.

Other Premier League clubs already have sponsorship deals with cryptocurrency firms but none of them have one as their main shirt sponsor.

Arsenal, Aston Villa, Crystal Palace, Everton, Leeds United and Manchester City all have deals in place with crypto sponsor Socios, which sells 'fan engagement tokens'.

Palace fans have previously protested against their club's deal with the company, holding up a banner describing Socios as "parasites" during a match against Everton earlier this season.

Liverpool are hoping to finalise their main sponsorship deal in the next eight weeks, as Jurgen Klopp's side continue their pursuit of an unprecedented quadruple this season.

Liverpool's negotiations with crypto firms come after the club controversially launched its own range of non-fungible tokens (NFT) in March.

The NFTs, digital artworks of players and coaching staff at Anfield, were put on sale at auctioneer Sotheby's for $75 (£57) each - around $12.8m (£9.8m) in total.

Despite the disappointing response from fans, Liverpool still raised £1.1m from selling the NFTs, with £281,374 of that figure going to the club's charity, the LFC Foundation.