Celtic Park echoed with the cheers of home fans as the Scottish side surged to a 2-0 lead against AC Milan during their pre-season friendly. Goals from Camilo Durán in the 11th minute and James Forrest in the 28th placed Milan in an early hole.
Contrasting digital approaches off the pitch
While Celtic remains disconnected from the crypto frontier, AC Milan embraces it boldly. The Italian club launched its fan token, $ACM, back in January 2021, collaborating with Socios.com and Chiliz, platforms synonymous with sports blockchain ventures. These tokens grant fans voting power on minor club choices and unlock exclusive perks.
Expanding its crypto footprint, Milan inked a deal with Bitpanda in July 2025, introducing the Vision (VSN) token. Bitpanda's logo appears on the back of Milan's shirts, ensuring millions witness a crypto brand every time Milan takes the field. This partnership not only generates income but ties the club to a regulated European crypto exchange, potentially enhancing global fan engagement.
In contrast, Celtic has avoided crypto entanglements so far, with no fan token, blockchain collaborations, or NFT projects in place as of mid-2026.
AC Milan's crypto activity reflects a broader trend where clubs seek fresh revenue through digital assets amid regulatory hurdles introduced by the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) framework. This has made launching and sustaining fan tokens more complicated and costly, which might explain Celtic's cautious stance.
Interestingly, the $ACM token's value fluctuates more with general crypto market sentiment than Milan’s on-field results, rendering the halftime score here less relevant to token holders.
