CryptoTypes: Fan Tokens, Gaming and Sports (XCC-FGS)
What are Fan Tokens?
Cryptocurrencies have been the talking point for nearly 3 years now and are increasingly drawing the attention of new investors every day. But as we are continuously exploring blockchain technology, we’re discovering new concepts and ideas based on this technology like NFTs, Blockchain Gaming, Fan Tokens etc.
Fan tokens are a type of cryptocurrency that entitles holders to a variety of fan-related membership benefits such as voting on club decisions, rewards, merchandise designs, and one-of-a-kind experiences.
Users who have a certain number of fan tokens are given the ability to vote on a variety of issues affecting their favourite team. The topics on which fans can vote vary depending on the club, but they may include:
The design of a club’s merchandise
- Designs for tour buses
- Match Locations
- MVP categories
Fans can buy digital tokens and trade them in the same way they trade other cryptocurrencies. In most cases, the seller determines the price of a fan token when trading. It may also fluctuate depending on market conditions and how popular the token is at the time.
Fan tokens help create an exclusive community of dedicated fans. They provide fans with a new way to participate in an exciting voting and reward system. The more fan tokens you own, the more control you have over the club and the greater your commitment to your team.
How can they be an investment opportunity?
Fan tokens are not just a symbol of loyalty but can also be an investment opportunity. For example, CHILIZ (CHZ) is the most popular fan token platform to date and has its own blockchain. Chiliz also created the Socios.com platform, which allows fans to interact with their favourite sports teams and clubs.
Socios.com has partnered with some big teams like FC Barcelona, PSG, Atletico Madrid, Juventus etc. to allow their fan tokens to be bought and sold on their platform. Not only this but Lionel Messi signed a $20 million deal with Socios to become the fan token site’s global brand ambassador!
Many more teams and clubs plan to use Socios.com as part of their fan engagement strategy to continue to grow their global fan bases, especially in Asia, where the football fan community is booming. The sporting industry is a huge market and these tokens can also catch the eye of different leagues in the world like the IPL! So there are still untapped markets with a lot of potential.
Fan tokens are already starting to attract the US sports fanbase. As of 13th April 2022, thirteen NFL teams are planning to announce their partnerships with fan token platform Socios, following the New England Patriots into the uncharted territory of NFL crypto deals. Moreover, over 24 National Basketball Association (NBA) teams have also announced partnership with Socios.com.
A new category of Fan tokens have emerged namely ‘Add-on Tokens’. To provide even more exciting opportunities, Socios.com has partnered with the top club competitions: the Champions League, Europa League, and Conference League. These competitions’ Fan Tokens will not be purchased or sold; instead, they will be given free of charge (Add-on Tojens) to fans who already own Fan Tokens from clubs competing in these competitions. For example, if you own a Juventus Fan Token and the team is playing in the Champions League, you will get the Champions League Add-on Tokes.
And it doesn’t stop here! Chiliz announced a partnership with Chainlink (which is a secure decentralised oracle network that enables the creation of self-executing smart contracts) Chiliz will be able to mint Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) for partners on their fan voting and rewards app Socios.com in real-time thanks to this integration. For example, when a soccer player scores a hat-trick during a game, a limited number of tokens are minted. So fans can get NFTs during the live game and can even use these to get exclusive rewards like the VIP Box (If the club offers utilisation of NFTs).
How to buy Fan tokens?
You might be wondering why I am expounding upon Chiliz and Socios so much. Well, the reason is that it is a gateway to buy your favourite team’s fan token. For example, if I want to buy the Alpine F1 Team token, I have to buy the Chiliz token (CHZ) and then buy the Alpine F1 token with this CHZ. I can also buy fan tokens from Binance but Chiliz being the leading tokenized sports and entertainment exchange, offers more fan tokens along with Fan Token Offerings (FTO) which is like Initial Coin Offering in cryptocurrencies.
So all in all, Fan tokens seem to have great potential for not only fans but also investors. Whether or not these coins boom, in the long run, will depend on how the platforms like Socios.com collaborate with clubs and teams. It will also depend on what these teams have to offer to the fan token holders.
Written by Mudit Tandon (tandon.mudit2000@gmail.com)
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — -
Sources:
Dywer, K. (2021, July 24). What are fan tokens? CoinMarketCap.
Retrieved April 14, 2022, from https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/what-are-fan-tokens
Lionel Messi joins Socios.com as Global Brand ambassador. Socios. (2022, March 29).
Retrieved April 14, 2022, from https://www.socios.com/lionel-messi-joins-socios-com-as-global-brand-ambassador
Chiliz. (2020, March 4). Chiliz integrates with Chainlink to mint nfts in Real time. Medium.
Retrieved April 14, 2022, from https://medium.com/chiliz/chiliz-integrates-with-chainlink-to-mint-nfts-in-real-time-a7bdb78349ff
Tan, E. (2022, April 13). NFL teams test the waters of Crypto Fan Tokens. CoinDesk Latest Headlines RSS.
Retrieved April 14, 2022, from https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/04/13/nfl-teams-test-the-waters-of-crypto-fan-tokens
Prat, I., & SAM, A. (2022, April 12). What are ‘add-on’ fan tokens from Socios.com? MARCA.
Retrieved April 14, 2022, from https://www.marca.com/en/technology/fan-tokens/2022/04/12/6255bde622601dda0f8b45bc.html
Sam. (2022, February 21). What are fan tokens? MARCA.
Retrieved April 14, 2022, from https://www.marca.com/en/technology/fan-tokens/2022/02/21/6213bd4fca474173688b457e.html
Chiliz. Chiliz $CHZ -. (2022, March 4).
Retrieved April 14, 2022, from https://www.chiliz.com/en/
