PSG Joins Chiliz Chain as Blockchain Validator

Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), a French football club, is set to expand its involvement in Web3 and SportFi by becoming a validator for Chiliz, a fan token blockchain. This move makes PSG the first major football club to become a blockchain protocol validator. The club plans to reinvest the revenue generated from its validator to buy back PSG fan tokens, creating a self-sustaining digital economy for the club and its fans.

The Chiliz Chain, which serves as the infrastructure for Socios, a platform that issues and manages fan tokens for various professional football clubs and sports teams, will support PSG’s initiative. PSG has been an early adopter of this technology, launching its fan token on Chiliz in 2018. The club aims to explore opportunities in the broader cryptocurrency, Web3, and SportFi space.

Pär Helgosson, the head of Web3 at PSG, is leading efforts to explore alternative financial opportunities within the ecosystem. Venture capital firm Animoca Brands also joined Chiliz Chain as a validator, and the protocol introduced a new inflation-staking rewards mechanism for CHZ holders and integrated the EIP-1559 transaction fee protocol burning scheme.

Helgosson explained that PSG will use the revenue generated from its validator to automate the buyback of PSG fan tokens from public marketplaces. The buybacks will be executed through smart contracts on the Chiliz Chain and decentralized exchanges. This program aims to increase revenue through gas fees and supply inflation, which will be reinvested into the PSG fan token. The goal is to create a self-sustaining economy for the club.

PSG and Chiliz are also planning to host a blockchain hackathon at the Parc des Princes stadium in the summer. This event aims to attract developers to build decentralized applications and products using PSG fan tokens on the Chiliz Chain.

Alexandre Dreyfus, the founder of Chiliz, believes that PSG’s move to become a validator could encourage other clubs to follow suit and gain a better understanding of tokenomics in the ecosystem. Dreyfus envisions having dozens to hundreds of validators from sports organizations, fan-owned nodes, and cryptocurrency firms.

Off-the-record conversations with Helgosson reveal that PSG has ambitious plans to diversify revenues and offerings in the cryptocurrency and blockchain ecosystem. The club has already explored and launched several NFT collections, some of which offer exclusive rewards to holders. While the exact details of PSG’s investment in Chiliz have not been disclosed, the club intends to actively engage and reinvest with its Web3 partners.

Becoming a validator for Chiliz is a significant step for PSG in its efforts to participate in the Web3 ecosystem. The club aims to create a sustainable tokenomics model for the PSG Fan token ecosystem and contribute to the growth of the Chiliz ecosystem as a whole.