John Terry’s NFT collection plunges 90% in value

John Terry’s collection of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have plummeted in value by 90 per cent over the past month, with England internationals Tammy Abraham and Ashley Cole quietly deleting their endorsements of the controversial scheme, The Athletic can reveal.

This comes as the Premier League is considering its own official NFT partnership deal potentially worth hundreds of millions of dollars, despite the sector being completely unregulated, and the subject of fierce criticism.

Terry’s ‘Ape Kids Football Club’ NFTs were publicly trading for an average price of $656 after launch on February 2, but by March 8 the average price had dropped to $65.

This means football fans who bought NFTs because their heroes endorsed them on social media stand to lose huge amounts of cash.

Non-fungible tokens are a form of digital asset based on blockchain technology that underpins cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum.

To their advocates, they are the modern iteration of trading merchandise like stickers or clothing, but to detractors, they are enriching the already wealthy to the detriment of sports fans exposed to unregulated financial speculation.

There has been a general dip in the cryptocurrency and NFT markets in recent weeks, which may explain part of the dip, though not nearly as big as 90 per cent.

After Terry announced Ape Kids Football Club in January, the Premier League staged a legal intervention over NFTs which used an image of the trophy, protected by intellectual property laws. Premier League, UEFA and FA trophies were removed from the Ape Football Kids Club NFTs, as well as the badge of Chelsea, the club which Terry now works for, for similar reasons.

(Photo: GLYN KIRK/AFP via Getty Images)