Barcelona’s NFT Wallet and Gaming Plans Take Shape
FC Barcelona is stepping further into digital collectibles with a new wallet tied to its upcoming NFTs. The club, valued at $5.65 billion by Forbes, is calling it *Barça.Pass*—part of a broader push into web3 and gaming. If you’ve got a Barça ID (and over 11 million people already do), you can claim one now.
The wallet isn’t just for holding NFTs, though. It’ll let users create custom avatars, dress them in official club merch, and collect digital items. Most of this seems aimed at an unannounced mobile racing game in the works. Whether fans will care is another question, but the club’s clearly betting on it.
How It Works—and What’s Behind It
Futureverse, the crypto infrastructure firm handling the tech, built the Pass on Root, a gaming-focused blockchain. Root’s EVM-compatible and uses XRP for gas fees, which might raise eyebrows given XRP’s rocky history. But according to Futureverse CEO Aaron McDonald, the avatars will support “semi-fungible” wearables—meaning some items might be interchangeable, others totally unique.
Those wearables? They’ll be sold through FCB’s Shopify store, of all places. And if you’re into trading, marketplaces like Tradeverse (connected to Root’s ecosystem) will let you buy or sell them using ROOT or XRP. It’s a whole setup, really—though whether it’ll catch on is anyone’s guess.
Not Their First Rodeo
Barcelona’s dabbled in mobile games before, just not like this. Remember that endless runner game from 2014? Or the oddly specific *Barça Kitchen* cooking game in 2018? Last year, they released *Barça Games*, a minigame app that quietly vanished from the Play Store. This feels different, though—more tied to the club’s identity, for better or worse.
The wallet’s supposed to be more than just a place to stash NFTs. McDonald mentioned “onchain experiences” built by developers, though details are thin. Maybe it’ll evolve into something bigger. Or maybe it’ll fizzle like so many other crypto experiments.
For now, the club’s teasing avatar designs and a racing game that may or may not stick. Either way, it’s a gamble—one that’ll test whether fans actually want their fandom on the blockchain.
