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Football tokens shine ahead of the sporting summer
Involvement vs speculation
Changes in token volume and price do not always correspond to team performance, noted Adam McCarthy, research analyst at Kaiko.
“I see no evidence that holders benefit from holding these tokens as some sort of bet on the success of their respective teams,” he added.
A study analyzing fan token trading at major sporting events found that it often aligns with the “buy the rumor, sell the news” model found in traditional finance. Volumes and returns typically increase before major tournaments, then decline at the start of major games.
On the other hand, another study found that fans who purchase tokens typically take advantage of the benefits of voting on club-related decisions.
“When fans are given the chance to influence club decisions, they engage in a substantial way,” said Lennart Ante, who worked on both studies and is CEO of the Blockchain Research Lab.
“The dual nature of fan tokens as both engagement tools and speculative assets creates a dichotomy,” Ante added. “The future of fan tokens may depend on how this distribution evolves between engagement-focused users and speculators.”
Slow growth even when tokens appear
The growth of tokens linked to clubs, rather than national teams, remains slow.
At the same time, the number of fan tokens has increased in recent years, given the ease of launching tokens on blockchains like Solana, Bitfinex’s Kooner said. Chiliz said it has launched 80 fan tokens in the past year.
French football giant Paris Saint-Germain, which owns a fan token, announced earlier this year that it would become a network validator for the Chiliz Chain blockchain, meaning it would manage and secure part of the chain .
English club Watford FC recently offered a 10% stake in the club to investors and fans via digital stock tokens. In addition to equity participation, other perks include dinners with team members and private tours of the training grounds, depending on the level of investment.