Former England star Michael Owen to launch a cryptocurrency in his name

Former Manchester United and Real Madrid striker Michael Owen is launching own virtual currency, joining the likes of Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao and other famous sportsmen in a new venture to connect with fans around the world.

The Ex-England star, 38, announced Wednesday his investment in the Singapore-based Global Crpto Offering Exchange (GCOX) as he unveiled the "Owen Coin".

The Celebrity's tokens supported by GCOX will allow fans to buy merchandise such as personal training videos, make donations to charities and even interact with the ex-sportsman via live-streaming.

GCOX pride itself as the "world's first celebrity cryptocurrency exchange" and said the listing of different celebrities' tokens on its exchange would provide an objective indication of their popularity.

"Fan can be connected to their favourite celebrities in a much, much intimate level", said Owen in Hong Kong.

The also  ex-Liverpool star has not been puff off by investing in the market even as regulators across Asia take more critical look at cryptocurrencies as their values become more and more volatile.

Last year saw the skyrocketing in the price of hundreds of virtual currencies led by bitcoin, which towards the end of last year exchanged for more than $20,000 per unit in major exchanges before slumping to around $9000 presently.

In Owen's voice, "when the price of bitcoin hit a new high last year, I knew it was clear trajectory to cryptocurrency as a global phenomenon".

Meanwhile, Manny Pacquiao is also set to launch own virtual currency on GCOX.