The UK’s National Crime Agency has frozen roughly $13.5 million held in a Premier League account connected to Sorare, the non-fungible token (NFT) fantasy-football platform. The move is part of an ongoing gambling-law investigation. Decrypt reports the sum at $13.6 million, pegged to a precise sterling figure of £10,024,041.33.
Westminster Magistrates’ Court granted the order in January 2025 under the Proceeds of Crime Act, Decrypt reported. The money sat in a Barclays account under the name of The Football Association Premier League Limited. An NCA spokesperson told The Sun the order was intended “to prevent dissipation of the funds while the NCA investigates any potential links between those funds and alleged third-party criminality.”
It was the first payment under a sponsorship deal Sorare signed with the Premier League in January 2023. That agreement gave Sorare rights to issue digital player cards across all 20 Premier League clubs. Clubs were paid based on how frequently their cards were used. The total value was never officially disclosed. Reported figures diverge: Cointelegraph puts the deal at $162 million; Decrypt cites roughly $41 million a year, or about $163 million over the full term.
The contract ended after the 2025-26 season. Cointelegraph described it as terminated. A Sorare spokesperson told Decrypt the deal had “expired at the end of its term” and was “not terminated as a result of any investigation or regulatory proceedings.”
The freeze runs in parallel with a separate prosecution. In September 2024, the UK Gambling Commission charged Sorare with providing facilities for gambling without an operating licence, contrary to the Gambling Act 2005. It was the regulator’s first prosecution of a blockchain-based platform. The commission rarely prosecutes at all. Sorare’s card-trading product is alleged to function in practice as an unlicensed gambling service under UK law. The investigation itself began in 2021. Sorare entered three not-guilty pleas at Birmingham Magistrates’ Court in October 2024, one to each count, and “will continue to defend our position,” a spokesperson said. Trial is listed for June 2027, after being pushed back from June 2026.
Sorare disputes how the freeze has been framed. In a statement shared with Decrypt, the firm said it is “not under investigation by the UK National Crime Agency” and called the Gambling Commission prosecution “a separate and ongoing matter.” A spokesperson alleged “factual inaccuracies” in The Sun’s reporting, adding that the freezing order “concerns funds held in an account which does not belong to Sorare.” The company also said it “firmly” denies being a gambling product under UK law.
The Premier League declined to comment. It was reportedly due in court Monday to seek a variation of the order, which runs to September 14. There is no suggestion of wrongdoing by the league itself. Its accounts to July 31, 2025, showed reserves above £1.5 billion ($2 billion).
The case arrives as regulators tighten scrutiny of crypto-sports partnerships. In June, the UK Financial Conduct Authority wrote to Premier League clubs warning that deals with unauthorised crypto firms could breach financial services laws and expose clubs to legal and reputational risk. “Millions of football fans trust their club’s badge,” said Lucy Castledine, the FCA’s director of consumer investments. Clubs “should not let unauthorised financial firms exploit that loyalty by putting potentially dodgy products in front of millions of fans.”
Some clubs are carrying crypto sponsors into the coming season regardless. Stablecoin issuer Circle backs Chelsea. OKX sponsors Manchester City. Globally, the number of such deals has declined since 2022, Cointelegraph reported, weighed down by the market downturn and reputational concerns.
Founded in 2018, Sorare started as a crypto-only marketplace. Users connected wallets and traded cards on Ethereum or Solana. Cash payments were added in August 2023. The platform was valued at $4.3 billion in a 2021 SoftBank-led funding round. Its investors and ambassadors include Lionel Messi, Zinedine Zidane, Kylian Mbappé, Rio Ferdinand and Serena Williams, the Premier League noted.
