One of the latest trends in utility tokens within the crypto sphere has been the advent of “Fan Tokens” and judging by the reaction so far, they are popular.
Firstly, we should outline the difference between a Fan Token and an NFT as you may come across both. An NFT is a non-fungible token – this means that each one is unique and cannot be interchanged with another that is identical to it. For this, think of a piece of sports memorabilia. This is quite different from a Fan Token which is considered fungible. There are thousands of others just like it and they can be bought and sold and interchanged at will, think of a dollar bill.
Not surprisingly, fan tokens have taken off in sports that have loyal and committed fan bases and are looking for new and innovative ways to involve the fans and connect the fans with the players. Football (soccer), basketball and Formula one motorsport have all proven to be willing to try out this new method of fan engagement.
So ,what can you do with your fan tokens. The first benefit that is offered is the ability to partake in the decision making of certain things in the team or club. They may only be small things related to club policy, but it is rewarding to know that your opinion counts.
Next, clubs will offer special rewards for their token holders and these could be anything from tickets to events or opportunities to meet and engage with some sporting heroes. The possibilities here really are limitless and it will be interesting to see all of the ways that these tokens are used to provide value to fans.
If you wish to be involved, the first thing you will need to do is to see if your favorite team has a token. Be patient, if they don’t already, then one may be on the way soon. If they do have one, then you will need to find out where to purchase it. By far the largest fan token exchange is Chiliz.net, however the large exchanges of Binance and FTX also offer some choices of fan tokens.
You should do some research via your team’s official site and also through sites such as Socios to see what perks may be available to you as a token holder and what requirements there may be for you to fulfill in order to qualify.
Most of the engagement will require you to download the Socios application, and through the app. You will be able to do a variety of things. You can vote on team polls which are made available through the app. You can partake in games and giveaways which may reward you with more of your favorite fan tokens. You can unlock VIP fan experiences or access to limited edition fan merchandise.
Socios currently represents about 100 different sporting teams and their relevant okens with more being added all the time. There are another 12 teams all set to release tokens in the near future and I foresee this number continuing to grow.
As an investment, it is difficult to predict the future value of these tokens as a lot of it will depend on the perceived value that they create for token holders.
Fan Tokens would seem to be a novel and interesting way for lovers of sports and sports teams to have a greater connection with each other. Keep an eye on this space as it will undoubtedly provide some big surprises in the coming months.
