Crypto Academy / Season 4 / Week 1 - Homework Post for @wahyunahrul: Beginner's Course: Socios.com
Hello everyone. This is my submission post for Cryptoacademy Homework Season 4 / Week 1 / Beginner's Course on Socios.com - A Blockchain based platform for Sports Industry. Due care has been taken while compiling the task so that it qualifies all the requirements for acceptance.
1. Explain in detail what is the Socios.com Platform?
Socios.com is an online platform that brings sports fans closer to their favourite sports franchises/clubs/teams by enabling them to participate in exclusive opinion polls and influence team decision making, thereby earning rewards in return. Owned and operated by Socios Services Limited, registered in Malta, this portal provides –
virtual currency wallet services,
utility tokens that can be exchanged for fan tokens of users’ own choice,
market services for trading of utility tokens issued.
Users need to install the mobile application Socios.com which is available for Apple users (App Store) as well as Andriod users (Google Play Store). The application allows users to purchase fan tokens or earn free tokens by participating in various contests from time to time. These tokens can be redeemed for VIP experiences, access to exclusive content before worldwide release, club merchandise etc. Chiliz ($CHZ) is the in-app token that users can earn on this app.
Integrated with BlockChain technology mechanism, this platform ensures that user responses on the platform are never altered and remains secured.
2. What are the effects when blockchain has entered the realm of the sports industry?
Sports has always been the at the heart of human civilizations. It is a favourite past time for people. With the evolution of competitive sports leagues and competitions, different teams have got a large fan base due to their favourite players representing those clubs. Also the booming interests of cryptocurrency in today’s digital world of finance aims to shape the future economy making it more user friendly and easily accessible.
In such an hour, the introduction of crypto into sports or we can say, the coming together of virtual token currency and sports, is a win-win situation for both stakeholders, thereby expanding the fan base and increasing the business outreach to as many parts of the world as possible.
It is evident that sports fans consume huge amount of online content regarding their favourite teams, athletes, etc. over the social media. With crypto and sports joining hands, these fans can be redirected to feed on content that rewards fans with virtual tokens which can be redeemed for exclusive services. This is where apps like Socios.com helps.
The popularity of cryptocurrency with sports organisations is evident in many ways now. For instance, ticketing services can now be availed by payments made in Bitcoin. In the same way, player transfer between clubs have been settled with payments made in cryptocurrency. Omar Faruk Kiroglu is believed to be the first footballer to be bought using Bitcoin when Turkish football club Harunustaspor bought him for 0.0524 BTC in 2017.
In some recent developments, Lionel Messi, whose transfer to PSG shook the footballing fraternity would earn € 35m annually. In addition he would also be paid in PSG's own fan token/virtual currency. Now this has already excited fans and crypto enthusiasts in particular. So, such a situation makes football lovers to learn more about Cryptos, Blockchain and utilise the whole platform for financial benefits and amusement at the same time.
3. Is Socios.com a good prospect as an investment vehicle? Explain your personal opinion along with strong evidence.
So is Socios.com a good investment vehicle? Here opinions will vary from person to person. But let me tell you my point of view.
The platform is relatively a new experience for fans as well as crypto enthusiasts. So growth is imminent in the coming years. To invest in this platform, I feel this is the right time as the rates will be relatively low. There are almost no immediate market rivals for this crypto mobile app. So investing now can be a good idea to build up the portfolio, just like investing in Bitcoin in its initial days.
Another thing to note is that, the popularity of footballers and their clubs also attract fans to get exclusive access to their contents. So it is very much possible that the virtual currencies via Socios.com is expected to make a huge explosion very soon and announce itself to the world just like Bitcoin. Fingers crossed.
However it will be wrong to say that profits are guaranteed if we invest now, because crypto is itself volatile in nature. As the experts always say, you should invest only that much which you can afford to lose.
4. Explain the steps to install the Socios application in full and explore the various features in the application. (Screenshot Required)
Lets go through the step by step process to install the Socios.com mobile app on Android.
Step 1:
In Google Play Store, we search for Socios.com and the app shows up in the list. Then we need to click install which initiates the installation. Meanwhile we can read about the app in the description as shown.
Step 2:
As we open the app after installation, the application welcomes us with graphically attractive displays. Then we need to get started with the joining process.
Step 3:
For an existing user, there is the Log-in option. While for new users, they need to register with their mobile number. At once, the user is verified with an One Time Password (OTP) sent to that number through SMS.
Step 4:
Now in the Home section of the App, we have different options, ie. (a) to buy Chillis ($CHZ) tokens, which are the native virtual currency of Socios.com app, (b) to exchange $CHZ for Fan Tokens (c) to take part in voting contests of favourite sports teams (d) predict match outcomes.
Step 5:
After finishing this app tour, we need to select our favourite team. Now in this case, my favourite team (Manchester United) was not listed, because they haven't stepped into the virtual currency world yet. So I selected Leeds United just to progress into the app further.
Step 6:
This added 1 SSU (Socios United Fan Token) in my wallet.
Step 7:
The list of different fan tokens listed for trade by different football clubs/national teams can be seen as displayed below ---
Exploring the various features in the application
- It lets us buy Chiliz ($CHZ) tokens.
- Explore the Market to trade $CHZ for Fan Tokens
- Vote on exclusive club content and fans can influence decision making in this way
- Predict results using Fan Tokens and earn rewards
- Chat room to discuss everything with like minded people from across the globe
- Wallet helps keep track of token balance.
- Allows earning free tokens by hunting rewards.
- Dedicated News Feed to cater to the latest updates related to sports and it's involvement with crypto and Socios.com
- A leaderboard showing list of users according to their scores
5. Choose a Fan Token in the Socios application and do a detailed fundamental analysis. (Screenshot Required)
For this task, I choose the Paris Saint Germain Fan Token ($PSG)
Source: Screengrab from Socios.com
What is $PSG?
French football club Paris Saint Germain who plays in the Ligue 1 competition has created their own token based virtual currency named PSG Fan Token, represented by the initials $PSG. This can be accessed on the Socios.com mobile-app, where users can avail various premium services from the club including VIP experiences in all respects.
Fans can also engage themselves to influence the club's decision making by voting on club specific queries on the app. The PSG fans can also redeem in-app currency Chiliz for their favourite Fan Token to buy exclusive club content on demand.
More about $PSG:
At the time of writing this post, the different statistics of the PSG Fan Token have been described as follows--
| Stats | Value |
|---|---|
| Token type | BEP-20 and Chiliz Chain |
| Binance Launchpool date | 15 Dec, 2020 |
| $PSG value | $ 28.26 |
| Market Cap | $82,367,818 |
| 24 Hour Trading Vol | $29,792,358 |
| Circulating Supply | 2,906,337 |
| Total Supply | 19,890,000 |
The PSG tokens introduced by the French's top football club has a monthly linear vesting schedule of 8 years. During this period, 2.5 million tokens will be released every year starting June 2020.
Screenshot source: coingecko.com
1 PSG ~ 84.54 CHZ ~ 28.26 USD ~ 24.13 EUR
*(at the time of posting)
6. Conclusion
The coming together of crypto and sports can enhance fan engagement to a whole new level. This will not only allow fans to have a closer interaction with the sport but also empower crypto-literacy.
While there is a increased interest in digital assets among the public, sports franchises/clubs/teams are excited about the opportunity to extend their business with this new age technology over the Blockchain. However, they must also keep in mind the fact that crypto assets are highly volatile. That is why there needs to be a well thought out plan to tackle the problem in the event of a price crash.
I would like to extend my best wishes to Prof @wahyunahrul for creating this awesome lesson where he talks about Socios.com, which aims to maximize fan engagement by infusing virtual currency into popular sports team/clubs. This lesson has been a great learning curve for me personally because I am a passionate club football follower.
Thank You.