EMBARGO: 10am CET Thursday February 22.
French football giant Paris Saint-Germain said it will become a network validator for the Chiliz Chain blockchain that hosts its PSG fantasy tokens, and use the money it generates to buy them back regularly.
Sports clubs have dipped their toes into crypto over the years by creating fan tokens, which can be used for sports memorabilia and experiences, but this is the first time a club has gotten involved as a blockchain validator. Validators are entities that manage blockchain nodes and secure the network through functions such as transaction verification and smart contract authorization. In return, validators generate revenue from running a node.
The club, which currently leads the French Ligue 1 league, introduced its fan token in September 2018. According to CoinMarketCap data, the token now has a market capitalization of $28 million. The buyback program will allow PSG to “regularly refresh” its fan token reserves and help build a sustainable digital economy around it, Chiliz said.
“We will optimize our future engagement for network effects, increasing the value and revenue that every stakeholder can generate and experience within this new digital economy,” Pär Helgosson, head of Web3 at Paris Saint-Germain, said in a statement.
Other major football clubs with tokens on Chiliz include FC Barcelona, Manchester City, Juventus, Arsenal, Inter Milan and AC Milan.
Paris Saint-Germain has also announced that it will host a hackathon event at the Parc Des Princes in the coming months, an event that will be co-organized by Chiliz.
