‘Normie degens’ go all in on sports fan crypto tokens for the rewards
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The worlds of crypto and sports share strikingly similar characteristics: fervent passion, deep camaraderie, and tightly knit communities built united by a singular devotion to the team.
Over the past few years, these two realms have increasingly intersected, blending in unexpected ways. The result? A burgeoning underground community where crypto technology is becoming a tool for fueling and even amplifying sports fanaticism.
The idea of merging sports and crypto products began early in 2014 with projects like Jetcoin trying to tokenize athletes. However, the concept was way ahead of its time and ultimately failed due to a limited athlete partnership and a lack of compelling use cases for fans.
The 2017 Bitcoin bull market, driven mainly by retail investors, introduced blockchain apps to the mainstream audience. Since then, crypto sport-related products have emerged in different formats, such as NFT collectibles, sports tokenization and fan tokens. Sports digital collectibles platforms like the NFL-licensed Hashletes emerged that year but didnt really take off until NBA Top Shot became wildly popular in late 2020 and early 2021.
The fan tokens, created by Chiliz (CHZ) in 2018 and managed by Socios.com, represent a particular team. Many teams from diverse sports have tokens, however, they are particularly well-adopted among significant football teams (what Americans call soccer teams), such as Juventus, Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester City, Galatasaray, Argentinas national team and Barcelona.
Users must purchase a specific number of fan tokens to participate in a gamification program linked to real-life sports events. It rewards their engagement with points, which can unlock a range of perks when combined with sufficient fan tokens from attending official matches in VIP areas, meeting their sports idols, to voting on the design of the next official team jersey.
Socios.com invites Magazine to one of these events: Take the Pitch at Atltico de Madrids Riyadh Air Metropolitano stadium. Fan tokenholders get the unique opportunity to play a match on the same pitch where top players like Antoine Griezmann compete weekly.
Crypto meets sports: Fan tokens transform into experiences
Alberto Diaz, a devoted Atletico de Madrid supporter and fan tokenholder, tells Magazine that he spends up to two hours per day interacting with the long array of surveys, match predictions and other games from the platform to garner enough points to be able to attend these special events.
Despite being a devoted Atltico de Madrid fan, he admits to now also following the Turkish league closely to improve his match predictions between Turkish teams and maximize his reward points, as fewer fan tokenholders compete for these matches.
His dedication paid off when he earned a spot in his favorite teams official season photograph. Many of my friends didnt believe it was real, he said. They thought AI generated it.
Like other cryptocurrencies, fan tokens fluctuate in price as they are traded in the open market. However, many interviewees say they do not care about price speculation in the crypto space. They engage with crypto mainly to use the token to enjoy their benefits; they care more about the use case than the profitability.
Some fans get as obsessed with the tokens as the team itself
Some fans seem almost as obsessed with fan tokens as with the team itself, relentlessly engaging with the platform to unlock exclusive experiences. Jos Miguel Rubio, also known as Chemy, says he is fully devoted to the fan token ecosystem and has been actively turning others onto it.
Aside from running his home automation business, Chemy channels his passion for the Chiliz community through the FanFanToken YouTube and X channels, where he also created its own token, FANFAN. These accounts, funded by him, aim to educate users on how fan tokens work to their advantage.
His enthusiasm for this ecosystem has motivated him to launch a memecoin collection on the Chiliz Chain inspired by the mascots of Spanish football teams each mascot has its dedicated token.
With a self-deprecating laugh, Chemy acknowledges that his obsession might seem odd. Chemy says he sometimes feels guilty for spending more hours in the fan token ecosystem than he should on his family business. However, Chemy is not alone and the whole family is on board.
His wife, Miriam Suarez, says that while she doesnt consider herself a diehard sports fan, after the excitement of attending a match in the VIP area through a fan token experience, she got hooked into the fan token ecosystem and went all in.
She has now developed a habit of completing daily match predictions, surveys, and other tasks, hunting for fan token reward points during breaks between episodes of her favorite TV series.
Many people spend hours on social media or playing Candy Crush; I spend time on fan tokens. Whats the problem? she said.
Her enthusiasm for earning reward points reached new heights when she stumbled upon an unexpected strategy: predicting outcomes for rugby matches a sport she knew nothing about until fan tokens became a part of her life. Shed bet on the sport as there was less competition among fan tokenholders.
Chemy and Miriam are also ambassadors for tokens in their extended family. In Spanish culture, its customary to give more than 100 as a wedding gift. However, for Miriams cousins wedding, they decided to give a more original and personal present by gifting 100 Atltico de Madrid fan tokens ATM to the bride, an avid supporter of the club, along with an explanatory video done by Chemy on how the tokens work.
While changing in the Riyadh Air Metropolitano stadium dressing room, Chemys son, Ariel Rubio, explains to Magazine that his big dream is to tour the UKs best football sites, creating a route based on potential experiences offered through fan tokens.
The family says theyre already stacking up reward points to fulfill Ariels dream.
Fan tokens as a gateway to unreachable experiences
In Rotherham, UK, football enthusiast and Manchester City fan Georgiana Anitei says that fan tokens allowed her family to meet new people and experiences they otherwise wouldnt have been able to, given their finances.
Georgiana works as a customer adviser for Dyno, a firm dealing with plumbing and drainage, and her husband, Daniel Anitei, works as a machine operator who deals with clutches for the automotive firm Schaeffler.
Georgiana works part-time, four hours daily, as she cares for her three-year-old son, David. With this arrangement, she said she makes roughly 1000 ($1260) per month, which would be insufficient to attend football events due to their hefty price.
I would have never dreamed of affording a ticket and a platform box, never in my life, or even meeting celebrities, says Georgiana until she discovered the mechanism behind fan tokens.
Although she couldnt afford to buy many fan tokens at once, Anitei purchased a small but steady amount each month to accumulate reward points. Thanks to her dedication, her family has been able to visit Manchester Citys stadium so frequently that theyve begun to feel like part of the clubs extended family, she said.
I believe no money can buy the feeling and the respect of being there.
Beyond enjoying experiences she once thought impossible, she cherishes the friendships and connections she has made.
Im a normal person, and Im sharing a table with important people, says Georgiana joyfully. She was gladly surprised to find that these people were so friendly and open-minded, like if we had known each other for years.
Sports and fan tokens are a heady mix.
We created a WhatsApp group where we announce if were going to a certain match so we can meet up again, she explains.
She finds it enriching to sit next to people from a diverse range of backgrounds and form connections along the way.
On one memorable occasion, she found herself seated in the box next to the lawyer of the Brazilian team, So Paulo FC. The two struck up a conversation, and after bonding over their shared love for the sport, he made an unexpected offer.
If Georgiana could secure a ticket for a So Paulo FC game through fan tokens, she wouldnt need to worry about accommodation he said her family could stay at his home.
Before her son turned one, he had already attended a football match through a fan token event. The toddler may have met more celebrity football players and visited more stadiums than many adult football fans.
However, despite having a great headstart, the toddler may find it challenging to surpass developer and digital nomad Fabian Benjamin, who has toured around the globe by exploiting the fan tokens.
Global fans: Touring with tokens around the world
An Austrian, Fabian says hes lost count of how many experiences he has attended; it could be well over forty events, Im not sure.
He has visited many iconic stadiums, including Tottenham Hotspur, Crystal Palace, Inter Milan, Juventus, AC Milan, Atltico de Madrid, and Barcelona, among many others. One of these experiences that stands out was a unique birthday gift he gave himself a trip to Rio de Janeiros legendary Maracan Stadium to witness a local derby, which also doubled as the national championship final.
Hes primarily drawn to the Take-the-Pitch events, where fan tokenholders can play a match on the official pitch where the team regularly competes. Fabian has taken full advantage of these tokens as a digital nomad, playing in stadiums worldwide.
One memorable experience was attending an event at FC Barcelonas Camp Nou, where he participated in a training session at the same renowned La Masia training facilities where Lionel Messi was scouted and developed.
Fabian explained that he has bought fan tokens for nearly every club to access these events, as they unlock prediction games and polls that allow him to accumulate reward points.
He spends only 20 minutes a day on the app, but its very regular and his personal record is a 380-day streak of daily logins. That streak ended during a trip through the Bolivian desert when his phone lost connection for two days.
The daily streak went to zero, now it’s back at 290 days; Im gonna get my record back.
The daily login streak does not provide any extra reward points, he says. Im competing with myself.
