For a long time, fans of different sports brands did not have the opportunity to participate in their favorite sports teams’ management and decision-making process. These fans are loyal and passionate about their teams and invest time, resources, and energy to watch them play.

They usually travel with their team on both close and distant journeys to watch and support them. Yet they are mere spectators rather than stakeholders whose greatest joy is to have their teams win matches and trophies. They have always been passive fans instead of active supporters.

Chiliz birthed the idea of giving back to sports fans, allowing them to partake in some activities that go on behind the scene, and helping clubs monetize their huge followers to maximize income and equally get to know their supporters and interact with them.

What is Chiliz?

Chiliz is a sports and entertainment company behind the Socios.com, fan tokens, and Chiliz.net exchange, founded in 2018 by its current CEO, Alexandre Dreyfus to provide sports fans the platform to engage with their favorite sports team and offer teams a new way to interact with their global fan bases.

Through private placement sales, Chiliz raised over $66 million from key partners, private investors, and businesses and within a few years of its launch, Chiliz has grown in popularity and relevance by successfully integrating blockchain technology with sports, opening up new entrants into the crypto space.

The Chiliz ecosystem can be said to be all about tokenizing the sports and entertainment sector by creating a fan engagement platform, giving fans a say in their team’s management as well as a new way to connect with their team.

Holders of the fan token can decide on certain features to be introduced into the team or which activities can be carried out in the field of play, such as voting on the design and rebranding of the team’s jersey, goal celebration songs, design of the stadium or team’s tour bus, pre-game warm-up music and in some cases choosing the starting lineup of the team.

Therefore, the Chiliz ecosystem incorporates blockchain technology into sports — a blend of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and cryptocurrency offers sports fans the opportunity to engage and closely interact with their team.

Moreover, Chiliz is not a full-fledged crypto company but uses blockchain technology as an essential tool in achieving business goals in the sporting world. Chiliz applies blockchain technology such as the use of fungible tokens (fan tokens), cryptocurrency (Chiliz token, $CHZ), and smart contracts in bringing about fan inclusion into the activities and in the decision-making process of their teams, thus, expanding the scope of fan engagement, and elevating their stake in the team, from spectators to participators.

What is a Fan Token?

A fan token is a team’s branded fungible digital asset minted on the Chiliz blockchain and can be traded on the Socios.com platform and exchanged between users for profits. Its value is based on market valuation.

The fan token is a utility token that fans can use to gain voting rights in polls, compete in leaderboards, and access exclusive promotions and VIP rewards, among other things.

Each fan token is equivalent to one vote. So, a token holder’s vote depends on the number of fan tokens they have. Simply put, the more fan tokens, the more voting rights you have, thus, becoming a secondary stakeholder in the team. In addition, when you vote in team polls, you can be eligible for exclusive perks.

Chiliz.com Ecosystem

Two platforms make up the Chiliz ecosystem.

• Socios.com
• Chiliz.net Exchange

Socios.com

Source: Socios.com

Socios.com is an engagement platform or a marketplace that stores fan tokens. Fans can buy fan tokens using the Chiliz token, $CHZ, and trade them with other users as well as have voting rights in decision-making.

Each sports team has a unique fan token, launched through a Fan Token Offering (FTOs) and exchanged for $CHZ on the Socios.com platform. For instance, the soccer club Juventus ($JUV), was the first fan token launched on the platform in Q4 of 2019, followed by the FC Barcelona fan token, $BAR in Q1 of 2020. Others followed afterward, such as Paris Saint Germain, AC Milan, AS Roma, Galatasaray, Valencia, Man City, Arsenal, Leeds United, etc. They are the football teams to have carried out Fan Token Offering (FTO). The fan tokens are stored on the Socio’s Proof of Authority (PoA) side chain.

Further, the socios.com app has several interesting features that attract lots of users to the platform. Those features include; the opportunity to get badges by participating in the platform; having access to augmented reality (AR) based geolocation game, predicting game outcomes by locking up tokens, and lastly the notorious locker room — fans earn bonuses by staking or locking their fan tokens for 120 days in support of a yet to be listed sports team on the platform.

If the team joins socios.com, the fans get access to the team’s fan tokens and other perks. But if the sports team doesn’t get listed on the platform, the user receives their locked tokens.

Chiliz.com Exchange

Source: Chiliz

This platform allows Chiliz users and sports fans to exchange fan tokens, using Chiliz tokens, $CHZ. It supports web and mobile devices and has the listed fan tokens.

Chiliz Token ($CHZ)

The Chiliz token ($CHZ) is an ERC-20 token on the BNB Chain and Ethereum blockchain (previously a BEP-2 token on the Binance Smart Chain). It serves the Chiliz ecosystem, enabling sports fans to purchase fan tokens or any other virtual assets available on Socios.com. Socios.com is a marketplace for fan tokens.

Additionally, $CHZ powers the Chiliz ecosystem by facilitating the acquisition of fan tokens for any sports team that partners with Chiliz. $CHZ is not only a utility token that has the potential to appreciate over time but is also available on leading cryptocurrency exchanges like Gate.io. You can register a Gate.io account to buy or sell $CHZ tokens.

The price of $CHZ is heavily influenced by factors such as team popularity, the laws of supply and demand, and the overall volatility of the cryptocurrency market.

Chiliz’s Partners

Chiliz collaborates with leading sports teams across various disciplines, including soccer, basketball, Formula 1, esports, UFC, and more.

In Q4 2018, the Italian football club Juventus was the first to launch a fan token ($JUV) through a Fan Token Offering (FTO). Fan token holders voted to replace the song played after a goal, switching from “Chelsea Dagger,” which had been used for eight years, to Blur’s “Song 2.”

In Q1 2020, FC Barcelona, one of Spain and Europe’s top football teams, launched its $BAR token through an FTO for its 300 million fans. Similarly, holders of these fan tokens voted to have a mural hung on the wall of the team’s locker room.

AC Milan’s fan tokens reached a purchase value of $6 million within hours of the FTO launch.

Other notable football clubs that have partnered with Chiliz include Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), Inter Milan, AS Roma, Lazio, Galatasaray, Valencia, and Atlético Madrid. Among Premier League teams, Manchester City, Arsenal, Everton, Leeds United, and Aston Villa are included.

Moreover, Chiliz has established partnerships with leading NFL and NBA teams in the United States. The national teams of Argentina and Portugal are also partnered with Chiliz. Chiliz has formed alliances with top esports teams, Formula 1 racing, and UFC.

These partnerships, established over a relatively short period, indicate that many sports teams are embracing the concept of fan engagement in team activities.

Fan Tokens

Source: Socios.com

Fan tokens are digital assets minted on the Chiliz blockchain bearing the branding of specific teams. They can be traded on the Socios.com platform and exchanged between users for potential profit, with their value determined by market valuation.

Fan tokens serve as utility tokens, allowing fans to gain voting rights, compete on leaderboards, and access exclusive promotions and VIP rewards. Each fan token represents one vote. Therefore, the weight of a token holder’s voting power is determined by the number of fan tokens they possess. Simply put, the more fan tokens you own, the more voting power you have, enabling you to become a minor stakeholder in the team. Additionally, fans who participate in team voting receive exclusive benefits.

How Does the Chiliz Ecosystem Work?

The Chiliz token ($CHZ) is the native cryptocurrency of the Chiliz ecosystem and can be bought from socios.com or Gate.io, stored in a crypto wallet, such as metamask or trust wallet, and used to buy fan tokens from the Chiliz.net exchange or Socios.com app.

The fan tokens are made available on the socios.com marketplace through a fan token offering (FTO), carried out by the sports teams in partnership with Chiliz and it is an ERC-20 token that exists on the Ethereum blockchain backed by smart contracts.

There is always a fixed number of fan tokens to be exchanged on the socios.com platform and burned when a team wins a match or records a great event. Further, the fan token qualifies fans for exclusive benefits such as VIP rewards, promotions, perks, access to the team’s special events, and ultimately voting rights in some in-house decisions.

Voting influence is determined by the number of fan tokens the user has. One fan token qualifies for one vote, while having more votes asserts your influence in the team’s decision-making process. Therefore, the more fan tokens, the more voting power and access to certain privileges. Moreover, voting is facilitated by the use of smart contract technology that runs on the Chiliz blockchain.

In addition, some fans support more than one team and can acquire fan tokens for different teams, for example, a Juventus fan can also hold a fan token for New England Patriots — an American football club.

Chilizen Projects

The following are specific projects related to the Chiliz ecosystem and championed by the members of the Chiliz community.

FanTokenRank.Com

This project aims to provide authentic information through an in-depth market analysis of the fan token, including price monitoring, charts, trading volumes, statistics, market capitalization, and valuations.

Its focus is on providing vital information about the Chiliz ecosystem, sourcing its data from the Socios.com platform, the company’s website, and other relevant sources. Simply put, it is a go-to site for a detailed market analysis of the progress of fan tokens. The platform is independent of Chiliz and Socios.com.

FanMarketCap.com

This platform publishes the latest developmental information about the performance of the fan tokens and their respective sports teams.

Also, it provides information on the market cap and market performance of fan tokens, thus, guiding new entrants into the Chiliz community.

FanTokenStats.Com

The platform supplies up-to-date data, about Fan Token Offerings (FTO), fan token market cap overview and valuation, daily top gainers, and Chiliz blockchain data, etc, delivered in real-time.

Socios Journal

This is a blog run by the Chiliz community that educates and informs the entire crypto world and the Chiliz community about the activities of the ecosystem such as roadmap, partnership, Chiliz token pairs, news, and recent updates. It is powered by the Chiliz token, ($CHZ).

Dragon 8 Hard Fork

Implementing the Dragon 8 hard fork marks a milestone in the development of the Chiliz Chain. This upgrade aims to optimize further and enhance the overall performance of the Chiliz Chain. Since its initial launch in May 2023, this represents the first major technical innovation for the blockchain network. Through the Dragon 8 hard fork, the Chiliz Chain aims to improve system compatibility and efficiency and introduces a new tokenomics framework, known as Tokenomics 2.0.

A key feature of the Dragon 8 hard fork is its compatibility with the latest version of Solidity. Specifically, developers will be able to utilize version 0.8.25 of Solidity, providing them access to new opcodes and precompiled contracts. This enables the creation of more advanced smart contracts. Additionally, Dragon 8 supports the second-generation transaction specification, aligning with Ethereum’s EIP-1559 proposal. This alignment simplifies fee management and enhances user experience and overall economic efficiency.

Tokenomics 2.0

Tokenomics 2.0 introduces a sustainable economic framework for the $CHZ token. The annual inflation rate of $CHZ will start at 8.80% and gradually decrease to 1.88% over 14 years. This new model aims to balance short-term participation incentives with long-term network stability, incorporating a transaction fee-burning mechanism to improve the network’s economic efficiency.

Gradual Inflation Reduction
The transaction fee-burning mechanism will be implemented as part of EIP-1559. The majority of accrued gas fees will be burned at the protocol level.

The Chiliz Chain’s new tokenomics uses a balanced approach of inflation and burning to incentivize a broad and active validator network. This design promotes greater decentralization and resistance to attacks, helping to maintain a sustainable economic model and prevent excessive inflation. These mechanisms collectively create a secure and adaptive ecosystem.

Supply Roadmap

Starting from the 14th year, the inflation rate will stabilize at an annual rate of 1.88%. Over time, as the amount of gas fees burned increases, this inflationary pressure will be partially offset. Eventually, if the gas fee burn rate exceeds the annual inflation rate, inflation will naturally turn negative, resulting in a deflationary model.

Key Benefits After the Upgrade

The introduction of the new tokenomics model for the Chiliz Chain represents a significant ecosystem evolution, ensuring that the $CHZ token remains a vital component of the network. This upgrade is a strategic adjustment to foster sustainable growth, community engagement, and enhanced token utility. The main advantages include:

• Higher Rewards to Incentivize Community Participation: The upgraded model offers increased incentives for active community engagement.
• Sustainable Growth for the Chiliz Chain Ecosystem: The new framework supports long-term incentives for all participants within the broader Chiliz Chain ecosystem.
• More Opportunities for DeFi Development within the Chiliz Chain Ecosystem: The update opens up additional avenues for decentralized finance projects to flourish on the Chiliz Chain.

Naver Pay Wallet

South Korean internet giant Naver’s payment platform, Naver Pay, has announced the release of a beta version of its digital asset wallet service, Naver Pay Wallet. Naver Pay is collaborating with Chiliz, a blockchain company focused on sports and entertainment, to offer a rich array of Web3 content and exclusive activities to users participating in the beta experience.

Naver Pay Wallet is a non-custodial digital asset wallet that allows users to have direct control over their private keys and digital currencies. Users can quickly create a Naver Pay Wallet using their Naver ID and setting a password through the Naver Pay app. Naver has highlighted that this design effectively addresses the issue of asset recovery that non-custodial wallet users face when they lose their recovery phrases.

The Naver Pay Wallet aims to serve Naver Pay’s 33 million users, enabling them to manage their digital assets, including the storage of NFTs. The wallet plans to introduce various new features, such as integration with decentralized applications (DApps), fan tokens, and loyalty reward programs tailored for Naver’s merchant network.

Summary

In the sports industry, fan reactions to team issues are greatly influenced by emotions. Chiliz offers sports enthusiasts the opportunity to participate in team management and contribute to their development and progress. It also enables sports teams to monetize their large fan bases.

Overall, Chiliz views blockchain technology as a means to empower its core business. The primary focus of Chiliz is building a vibrant and engaging fan community. This presents a unique opportunity for sports teams to raise standards and elevate sports entertainment to new heights.