French football giant Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) will become the validator for Chiliz's fan token blockchain and deepen its work in Web3 and SportFi. PSG will be the first major football club to have a blockchain protocol validator and will use the revenue from its validator to buy back PSG fan tokens. The move is seen as the creation of a self-sustaining digital economy for the club and its supporter base.
Chiliz Chain forms the infrastructure of the Socios platform, which issues and manages fan tokens of more than 150 professional football clubs and sports teams. PSG was an early adopter of the technology, launching its fan token on Chiliz in September 2018.
PSG aims to explore opportunities in the field of cryptocurrency, Web3 and SportFi. The club continues its work under the leadership of Pär Helgosson, who assumes the newly created position of president of Web3, directing efforts to explore alternative financial opportunities in the ecosystem.
PSG's move to become a validator could be a catalyst that could lead other clubs to follow suit and better understand the tokenomics of the ecosystem. Chiliz and Socios are focused on developing products and experiences for the broader sports industry. The long-term goal is to have dozens or even hundreds of validators comprised of sports organizations, fan-owned nodes, and cryptocurrency companies.