Atlético Madrid Set to Initiate Legal Action Against Crypto Exchange WhaleFin

Atlético Madrid, the renowned Spanish football club, is reportedly gearing up to take legal action against WhaleFin, a Singapore-based cryptocurrency exchange.

The conflict arises over an unresolved sponsorship payment totaling $44 million, which WhaleFin allegedly failed to remit to the club.

Protos, the news outlet reporting the development, notes that the disagreement stems from a five-year sponsorship deal inked with WhaleFin before the commencement of the 2022/23 football season. Atlético Madrid claims that WhaleFin breached the terms of the contract by withholding the agreed-upon sponsorship funds.

This legal challenge follows a previous incident in December 2022, where WhaleFin encountered financial difficulties and consequently terminated a $25 million sponsorship deal with Chelsea FC, another prominent football club. This development took place a mere seven months after the contract was signed.

While Atlético Madrid has ventured into the cryptocurrency space through its ATM fan token, the legal tussle with WhaleFin seems to have had little impact on the token’s market performance. As per CoinMarketCap, the token is currently valued at $2.61, marking an 8% increase over the past month.

A similar scenario unfolded with Italian football clubs Inter and Roma, as reported by Calcio Finanza. Both clubs had entered into agreements with DigitalBits, a blockchain company, which later backed out of its sponsorship commitments, failing to pay over $17 million to Inter and around $11 million to Roma.