English Premier League football club Manchester City has suspended a partnership with a start-up crypto company after apparently failing to do their due diligence before signing.
According to Daily Mail reporter Jack Gaughan, Manchester City is "conducting further research" on 3key Technologies, the encryption company with which the club inked a deal on November 12. At that time, the football club said would collaborate with 3key to unveil its decentralized finance business analytics products, or DeFi, as a regional partner.
Manchester City is suspending its association with "3Key", a start-up cryptocurrency company whose executives do not appear to appear in internet searches. The partnership was announced last week. pic.twitter.com/Hi02Z2IxAR
- Jack Gaughan (@Jack_Gaughan) November 19, 2021
However, Manchester City is reportedly backing away from the deal after online searches as reported by The Guardian. revealed that company executives had little to no fingerprints, with the information provided seemingly unverifiable. Cointelegraph was unable to locate contact information for Ryan Hodder, named 3key's chief marketing officer in the announcement.
"The closest he's gotten to verified information is a photo of a red-haired bearded man in a plaid suit who may or may not be 3Key's 'chief growth strategist' Jacob Caine," said The reporter from The Guardian Paul MacInnes.
While 3key may be a legitimate service provider in the DeFi space and its superiors simply choose to keep a low profile online, the lack of information available is suspicious. Many high-profile figures were tricked into promoting scam token projects during the 2018 ICO boom, including actor Steven Seagal and boxing promoter Floyd Mayweather. However, it is unusual for an organization like a Premier League football club to publicly announce a partnership with a relatively unknown company in the crypto space and then quickly withdraw without explanation.
Related: Animoca Brands signs Manchester City for games and collectibles
Manchester City is reported to be the sixth most valuable football club in the world, with an estimated value of $ 4 billion. according to Forbes. Outside of the 3key deal, the club also announced in March that it had partnered with fan engagement platform Socios.com to throw a fan token on the Chiliz blockchain.
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