By Andrew Clarke, Group Head of Editorial, Chiliz.
One year ago we started the full scale expansion of our horizons with the public launch of the Chiliz Chain mainnet, the Layer-1 PoSA EVM compatible blockchain for sports and entertainment.
Since then, builders from leading sports organisations, up and coming innovators, and developers from other fields have descended on the Chain. We’ve introduced a world-class validator network, including giants from blockchain and sport like Animoca Brands, OKX and Paris Saint Germain, massive Japanese financial conglomerate SBI Holdings, and Exaion, subsidiary of world-leading energy provider EDF. $CHZ has evolved from the payment token of Socios.com into the network and governance coin of this new ecosystem.
Fan Tokens are poised for the broadest expansion of all, and are ready to be plugged into new dApps built on the Chain, narrowing the gap between Web2 and Web3 for the biggest sports brands in the world.
Still, 365 days later, most still know us best for Fan Tokens and Socios.com.
That’s cool. But, it’s going to change.
Because, Chiliz Chain is unique. Chiliz Chain is home to one of the most high potential movements in blockchain. Chiliz Chain is really starting to warm up.
Chiliz Chain is unique
There’s a relatively large number of layer-1 blockchains offering similar tech capabilities, therefore it’s crucial to stand out from the crowd.
That’s a good thing. Because we have something that makes us different from everyone else — Fan Tokens.
Fan Tokens
Fan Tokens are the official crypto assets for over 70 of the biggest sporting organizations in the world, including giants like PSG, Man City, Barca, Arsenal, Spurs, Atletico de Madrid, Flamengo, Galatasaray, Juventus, AC Milan and Inter.
Together they form the biggest digital asset class in sport.
They have proven utility on Socios.com, spearheading its growth into the world’s number one fan engagement and rewards platform. Now, they are at the heart of Chiliz Chain, ready to plug into new dApps and spread these mainstream sports brand IPs across Web3.
Chiliz Chain and Fan Tokens
Chiliz Chain stands out because it offers ways to grow and scale dApps that no other blockchain can.
Builders on Chiliz Chain benefit from integrating Fan Tokens into their dApps through:
- Access to an engaged 2M+ strong audience: There are over 2M+ Fan Token wallets. That’s a massive audience of sports and crypto enthusiasts with a proven appetite for game-changing innovation.
- The opportunity to scale: Fan Tokens are fungible, that means however big the prospective audience is they can meet the demand cost effectively.
- Big name credibility: Fan Tokens are 100% official and 100% endorsed by world-class sports teams.
Chiliz Chain is home to a major emerging trend — SportFi
GameFi has fused blockchain technology into gaming. SocialFi is the movement weaving blockchain tech into new social media networks.
Both aim to smooth the transition between Web2 and Web3 for massive mainstream sectors and they have evolved into significant, recognised trends.
SportFi, a third movement with the goal of bridging the gap, is fast emerging, and it’s being built on Chiliz Chain.
Chiliz Chain and SportFi
World-class sporting organizations and trailblazing innovators are deploying projects on Chiliz Chain, embracing its potential and fuelling the SportFi movement.
Coach Ligue 1, will become the official fantasy football game of the French Professional League — a first for blockchain and football manager games as a whole.
Footballcraft, a decentralized football metaverse game by TOPGOAL that has built a 500K strong community, is building on Chiliz Chain.
The UAE Pro League, the premier pro football league in the United Arab Emirates, is developing another web3 fantasy football game on-chain.
Asia’s biggest football league — K-League — will integrate K League Fantasy, an interactive game where fans collect player cards and compete against each other.
Play Caller, a social game that enables competitions between friends during live sports games, is accelerating its growth on Chiliz Chain.
Rarible Protocol — already used by 4,000+ applications — has chosen Chiliz Chain to empower developers to create custom NFT marketplaces.
Pioneering AI sports platform, Lillius, enables users to engage with content created by sports stars — including Olympic champions — and take on curated challenges. It’s on-chain.
The tip of the iceberg
The above is just a glimpse into the vast potential of the Chiliz Chain. It’s the tip of the SportFi iceberg, with major new stimulus on the way.
As well as becoming validators, Japanese financial and crypto leader SBI Holdings — a $7B financial conglomerate with 50M+ clients — will work with us to grow Fan Tokens and establish Chiliz Chain as the #1 sports and entertainment Web3 ecosystem in Japan.
There will be deeper integration in the UAE in collaboration with RAK Digital Assets Oasis.
Azuro integration will enable developers to build advanced sports predictions platforms on-chain.
The launch of the first official Chiliz community token $PEPPER aims to further popularize the SportFi movement, complemented by the release of the affiliated NFT collection ‘The Peps’.
Hackathons at the Parc des Princes — the home of Paris Saint Germain — and in other world class partner stadia will inspire the developer community.
And, all this adoption, innovation and game-changing will drive the biggest names in the sports industry to roll out their Web3 visions.
The best part? We’re already partners with most of them.
The evolution of SportFi through Fan Tokens
Socios.com is the pioneering SportFi platform. It has paved the way, housing the biggest sports network in blockchain and enabling fans to use crypto assets to connect with, impact, and be rewarded by their teams for the first time.
Fan Tokens drove the first phase of blockchain-powered fan engagement on Socios.com.
Now, we’re entering the second phase of Fan Tokens and Socios.com.
In this second phase, Fan Tokens will be integrated into new dApps built on Chiliz Chain that will offer different services and experiences, and it will be possible to connect to many of them directly from the Socios.com wallet.
That means Fan Tokens will become widespread. And it means the teams — these massive, iconic, sports brand IPs — will become increasingly connected to Web3, bringing their legions of mainstream fans with them.
This is a big part of the SportFi vision.
There’s more to Chiliz $CHZ than you realized
365 days have passed since the Chiliz Chain mainnet launch. Foundations have been laid. The vision has become crystal clear. The biggest names in sport and blockchain are with us. Those that aren’t, want to know more.
It’s the Chiliz Chain mainnet’s first birthday, but the party is just getting started.
