The FIFA World Cup kick-started its exciting tournament just a few days ago, gathering a world of soccer enthusiasts (or Football, as we don’t want to offend anyone!) in front of their TV sets or in bars and cafes to chant for their favorite team.
But this year’s World Cup is somehow different from the previous ones as it’s adding another competitive aspect to the whole contest through cryptocurrencies. Despite a gloomy market and a prolonged crypto winter, fan tokens are enjoying increased interest as teams continue surprising their fans with their unexpected performances.
The recent Argentina and Saudi Arabia battle is one example of this as Saudi Arabia managed to beat Argentina, a result that was not expected by many and ended Argentina’s 36-game unbeaten run. What was interesting about this game was that the result was also reflected in the fan tokens market as Argentina’s Fan Token declined by 31% after the game.
However, what we are witnessing today goes beyond just soccer and the World Cup. Fan tokens are just demonstrating one of the impacts of cryptocurrencies on the sports and entertainment industries which is not unprecedented in other markets.
What Are Fan Tokens?
Cryptocurrencies are decentralized, meaning they’re aiming to distribute power among members and give everyone a chance to participate. Fan tokens were created with this ideology in mind and they aim to give fans the opportunity to be more involved in their favorite sports team.
Developed by Chiliz, the Socios.com fan engagement platform was the first project that prompted the idea of fan tokens broadly. Fan tokens of some of the most notable clubs like FC Barcelona, Manchester City, Juventus, and Paris Saint-Germain are presented on the platform for their fans.
Fan tokens provide their owners with multiple benefits like
— Participating in their team decisions through voting
— Receiving customized merchandise
— Having unique experiences with their favorite players
— Earning rewards through boosting engagement for their favorite team
The World Cup and the excitement around it popularized fan tokens further, making more people familiar with the concept.
Crypto in Entertainment and Sports
When it comes to entertainment and sports, NFTs are the first name that pops up in our minds. Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) are well-known for their application in the arts and music industries by providing a unique way for artists to protect their work and prevent any copyright infringement.
But we can see that cryptocurrencies are not limited to only that and their unique characteristics can revolutionize many different aspects of the entertainment and sports industries. From various novel ways of content distribution to enabling micropayments and usage-based billing solutions, cryptocurrencies can improve these industries for both customers and providers alike.
Fan Tokens Show How the Crypto Market Is Maturing
The recent hike in fan tokens despite the bearish sentiment in the crypto market shows us that the ecosystem is becoming more decentralized as different assets are performing based on their utilities and are not affected by the crash of a specific crypto project or platform.
As we always say, bear markets are the best time for BUIDLing and the current World Cup is showing us a new aspect of the crypto space. This is a unique opportunity for us to distance ourselves a little from the conventional use cases that we know for crypto assets and learn more about other aspects that the general public may be interested in. And we can do this all while enjoying our teams competing against each other, creating special memories that can be with us for the next 4 years.
