Fan Tokens: Cryptocurrencies Reach Sports Teams

Recently the Argentine Soccer National Team announced the creation of a fan token that will work under the blockchain system . Although this is the first national team to do this, it is not the first club, since 34 other soccer clubs and sports leagues already have their own token that anyone can buy and sell, including Paris Saint Germain, Manchester City , Juventus, FC Barcelona, and even the UFC . It is expected that through these cryptocurrencies called fan tokens, the followers of these teams and leagues can make internal decisions.

Socios.com is the company behind this entire project and the one that has partnered with various sports teams to create fan tokens, through their own cryptocurrency called Chiliz, which they can purchase in the Socios.com mobile application and redeem them. For the fan tokens, in the same way, these tokens are available in other popular platforms for buying and selling cryptocurrencies such as Binance or Coinbase, where any user could invest in them directly without having to exchange them for Chiliz.

Many fans, little power

In an interview with CoinTelegraph, Alexandre Dreyfus, founder and CEO of Chiliz y Socios, explained that this project is intended to tap into the billions of fans that sports, especially soccer, have and how their passion for teams can used in the blockchain, to the point of making them participate in decisions of leagues and clubs.

Through the Socios.com application, sports clubs will be able to open surveys so that their followers with fan tokens can exchange their coins to vote, for example, to choose the song that will sound when scoring a goal , the art works that will be in the locker room, as well as having access to internal video conferences or posting their photos in stadiums during the pandemic, according to MotorSport.

Despite the fact that this sports cryptocurrency project started in 2018, the Socios.com application already has more than 500 thousand downloads on Android and is also available for iOs . According to Dreyfus, it is expected in the future to have more than 50 soccer club fan tokens and partner with other sports such as Formula 1 teams. According to data from Binance, coins such as Juventus have a market capitalization of 34 million Dollars.

How does the price of these currencies move?

Like all cryptocurrencies, it varies its price according to the supply and demand it has, although when it enters the market it is offered with an initial price, this can also change immediately and will depend mainly on the news and performance of the club . As Dreyfus explains, if a team announces an important signing, wins a game or championship, its price tends to go up, otherwise, if they lose or get involved in controversies, the value will go down.

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What do these teams win?

According to The Associated Press, when FC Barcelona launched its cryptocurrency in June 2020 with 600,000 tokens available at an initial price of $ 2.20, these were sold within two hours , which generated profits of 1.3 million dollars to the club, as most of the money stays with the team. In addition, Socios.com ensures that in 2020 the teams involved generated profits of 30 million dollars. Through fan tokens, teams find a new way to capitalize on fans living in other countries without having to pay for a membership, and in turn fans can generate income without being partners.