Paris, 22 Feb, 2024: — Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), one of the world’s most celebrated and innovative football clubs, is deepening its role in the Chiliz blockchain and its partnership with Socios.com, PSG’s official Fan Token partner. As part of this partnership the club will play an active role in the Chiliz Chain as an official blockchain validator — an essential component of a blockchain network, helping to ensure its security, accuracy, and reliability.
This marks the first time a sports club has become a validator on a blockchain, representing a significant milestone in the adoption and evolution of the Chiliz Chain. It also underscores PSG’s commitment to the importance of web3, showcasing their strategic investment in the future of digital products and experiences.
The choice of Chiliz as the platform for this advancement is driven by its robust $1bn SportFi ecosystem, filled with crypto-native sports fans, its advanced infrastructure, and the array of decentralized applications it supports. The Chiliz Chain has already become a launchpad for 50+ web3 projects, demonstrating both the chain’s robust infrastructure and its capacity to attract leading web3 products and services.
Validators on the Chiliz Chain play a crucial role in maintaining the network’s integrity, security, and operations. As participants in the blockchain’s consensus mechanism, they verify transactions, authorize smart contracts, and ensure the smooth operation of the chain. PSG’s involvement as a validator takes its participation beyond mere token issuance to active participation and decision-making within the ecosystem.
PSG has been one of the leading participants in the Chiliz sports and entertainment ecosystem since becoming the first club to partner with Chiliz to launch a Fan Token in September 2018. The club has been at the forefront of the web3 transformation in sports, charting a course that many top European clubs have since followed. PSG is also the first club to appoint a Head of Web3 (Pär Helgosson).
The PSG Fan Token is becoming a cornerstone and gateway into PSG’s web3 ecosystem, designed to foster direct-to-fan relationships and engagement. This strategy will allow PSG to deliver unique experiences and products directly to its fanbase, generating significant digital revenue whilst allowing the fans ownership of digital assets and maintaining control of its digital assets.
PSG joins the Chiliz Chain as it has revamped and released its tokenomics model including a new inflation staking rewards mechanism allowing CHZ token holders to receive rewards, along with a new transaction fee protocol burning scheme (EIP 1559) and new community-based incentives.
New token buy-back mechanism
PSG has pledged to use 100% of its accrued revenue as a node validator on the Chiliz Chain to conduct regular $PSG Fan Token buybacks from the public marketplace. These automated buy-backs, executed via smart contracts by the validator or through decentralized exchanges on the Chiliz Chain, are planned at set intervals to consistently bolster the club’s digital economy.
The buy-back program has a dual purpose: it ensures a significant part of revenue from club validators, through gas fees and supply inflation, is reinvested into the PSG Fan Token supply. It also enables PSG to regularly refresh its Fan Token reserves. This approach allows PSG to build a self-sustainable Fan Token digital economy and engagement with its web3 fanbase.
PSG and Chiliz to host hackathons at the Parc Des Princes
PSG is also set to co-host, alongside Chiliz, its first-ever blockchain hackathon within the Parc Des Princes stadium towards the end of summer 2024. This initiative will gather French and international developers to innovate on new products leveraging web3, the Chiliz Chain, and PSG Fan Tokens. These hackathons highlight PSG’s dedication to innovation by fostering a connected, digitally savvy global fan community through the cutting-edge application of web3 technology.
Alex Dreyfus, CEO of Chiliz and Socios.com, remarked that, “We’re thrilled to deepen our existing relationship with Paris Saint-Germain by welcoming them as an official validator on the Chiliz Chain. This evolution marks a significant milestone in the adoption of web3 by fans, clubs, and leagues. We’re confident that this move will pave the way for other clubs to join us in this innovative journey. PSG’s active role as an official validator will undoubtedly propel our SportFi ecosystem to new areas, furthering our long-standing partnership with the club.”
Pär Helgosson, Head of Web3 at Paris Saint-Germain, added, “By becoming a validator on the Chiliz Chain, we’re not just embracing the future of web3 sports; we’re actively designing it so that we can have a more direct relationship with our fans through web3 experiences. We will optimize our future engagements for network effects, amplifying the value and revenue each stakeholder can generate and experience within this new digital economy. Our commitment is to build a more empowered and sustainable web3 ecosystem, leveraging the solid foundation of our existing relationship with Socios and Chiliz. PSG is committed to fostering innovation and the club will continue to develop opportunities with other partners in this space.”
