The crypto world is rapidly growing, with more institutional investors diving into this nascent industry. The latest reports reveal that Spanish soccer giant FC Barcelona, Barca, has now partnered with fintech platform Chiliz. Sources tell that the two institutions partnered to develop a blockchain-based token for the sports franchise.
As part of this deal with Barca, Chiliz created Barca Fan Tokens (BAR). These tokens will be used on its social, mobile app known as Socios, as reported in a press release. While referring to Chiliz’s Ethereum-based blockchain, Alexandre Dreyfus, Chiliz and Socios CEO and founder, stated:
“We are proud to launch the Barca token on the Chiliz blockchain platform. This is the ultimate goal and the best confirmation of our long term vision about fan engagement and monetization.”
Many months ago, Chiliz started working on Socios. Its beta testing phase involved 100,000 users. Dreyfus confirmed via email that the platform is no longer in the beta phase.
Keeping Up With Change
As technology advances, there comes a need for new customer engagement methods, particularly regarding FC Barcelona. The soccer giant is the fourth most valuable sports team globally, according to Forbes.
Once the fans and any other interested parties receive the new token as a reward for participation on Socios, they can then spend the asset on products and events, as explained in the press release. French soccer organization Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) and Professional Italian soccer club Juventus have also launched their tokens as reported previously.
All these assets will be priced against Chiliz’ own native token, CHZ. Dreyfus added:
“Our model is to issue BAR/CHZ, PSG/CHZ, JUV/CHZ, etc. on our platforms. Each team issues its fan token, with a limited amount of supply based on the potential over five years. Barca has 40 million tokens, for example.”
How To Use Socios-native BAR Tokens
Just like it is the case with Juventus and PSG, FC Barcelona’s BAR tokens were set up on Chiliz’s Proof of Authority Ethereum-based blockchain as ERC-20 tokens. The involved organizations will act as chain validators, according to Dreyfus.
Nonetheless, users cannot transfer these assets to their wallets and exchanges, as it is the case with the other digital assets. Dreyfus went on:
“At this stage, Barca tokens will be only available on Socios.com and Chiliz.net, our exclusive crypto exchange for sports and entertainment tokens to be launched in Q1. Over time, we will open a bit more to strategic partners who want to grow the ecosystem. Our priority is to validate the model toward fans and users.”
Socios now plans to enable “casual trading” sometime near the end of Q1 2020 or at the beginning of Q2. The CEO said that Chiliz.net, a crypto exchange exclusively for sports and entertainment tokens announced earlier in January, offers a more trader-centric atmosphere.
As more institutions and organizations join the crypto world, it could be said that cryptos and digital assets will soon join the mainstream global financial network.
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