5 Fan Engagement Crypto-Projects: An Overview [April 2021 Update]

Crypto-based projects have expanded into the mainstream, attempting to tokenize new markets. One of those markets is fan engagement, an already lively space where adding tokenization is the perfect tool to combine finance with hot trends. 

Fan engagement by itself is a hot trend for football clubs, becoming an industry standard in a quest for improved club revenues. Fan engagement is the goal of club managers, who wish to build a relationship of their fans with their team’s stadium, and boost demand for merchandise.

Just like every marketing effort, fan engagement has gone digital. Social media are a given, but blockchain and tokenization add another layer of engagement. The ease of use and immediacy of the token market can boost fan engagement efforts. 

We looked at some of the token-based projects currently working on fan engagement solutions. Here are the top 5 builders of a more loyal fan base.

Iqoniq was born to bridge the gap that still exists between fans and the teams, leagues, and idols they follow the most. In this multi-billion-dollar world of sports and entertainment, the value of engagement can not be downplayed. Indeed today, it underpins the entire industry. IQONIQ’s offerings are two-fold, first the revolutionary new fan engagement app, and secondly, the new IQQ Tokens which are now available to trade on Bittrex Global, and will soon be available through a number of other exchanges.

The soon-to-launch app, which already boasts an impressive list of over 100 global sports property partners across F1, Formula E, football, rugby, cricket, and many more, with a further 200 partner discussion ongoing, is the new home for that fan engagement. Bringing all the modern-day features of fandom such as content, exclusive prizes, digital collectables and NFTs, ticket shops, online stores, merchandise, news, statistics, games, and much more, IQONIQ is set to revolutionize not just the relationship between fans, rights holders and brands, but deliver a more rewarding, purposeful, and personal experience at the same time. This new self-contained world of engagement and reward will serve the needs of every fan, around the world.

As a pure utility, the new IQQ Token is an intrinsic part of delivering that value back to fans, and its use within the app is what will set this new token apart. Designed and created by IQONIQ Fan Ecosystem, the IQQ Token will allow its holders to unlock exclusive in-app elements and be redeemed and utilized to supercharge in-app Loyalty Points rewarded to fans for their loyalty and engagement.

All this is of course made possible by utilizing blockchain, which apart from offering transparency, also ensures reliability of the network by reducing dependency on a single server. The blockchain which will be used by IQONIQ, will have the capability of executing thousands of transactions per second, meaning it will be well-positioned to handle the increased demand of future sports and entertainment markets.

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) broke out in February 2021. NBA Top Shot tokens turned out to be one of the most successful collections. This was mostly due to the already huge fan base of the game. 

NFTs, however, are only static content and mostly rely on demand for collectible tokens. Engagement is also limited to buying a single image, with few options for timely content. 

NFTs also have the flaw of high costs, especially gas costs on the Ethereum network. The projects themselves were created at the spur of the moment, and do not take into account the needs of clubs or sports personalities to engage their fans. 

NBA Top Shot relies on an already coherent community. The marketplace serves as the chief fan engagement venue, where tokens are exchanged, bought and sold. The community is also united through gamification and campaigns. The focus of this project remains on the NFTs, with less tools to bring out club brands. 

Top fans gain attention through their rare collectibles, with the chief attraction of the platform being the very fast price growth of the tokens. In a way, top collectors are some of the real stars, which bring newcomers to the NBA collectibles.

ConsenSys is an all-encompassing blockchain ecosystem, which first appeared during the ICO boom in 2017. The project also decided to focus on the role of blockchain for sports and e-sports. 

The ConsenSys ecosystem serves all the major points in fan engagement. Tokenization allows for incentives, but also crowdfunding for teams and sports events. The ecosystem has tools for teams, leagues, athletes, and for fan engagement. 

ConsenSys initially started as a blockchain-based identity project. This functionality extends to fan engagement, where data-driven identities can build unique, cryptographically protected digital identities of fans. The ConsenSys ecosystem also offers memorabilia verification, similar to non-fungible token issuance.

TISA Group focuses on the monetization side of fan engagement. Through its blockchain token, TISA simulates the experience of partial ownership for a sports club. Through token ownership, fans also become stakeholders, receiving passive income from the club’s revenues, as well as bonuses and loyalty rewards.

Because token operations are highly flexible, stakeholders may also decide to invest in the transfer of a single player. 

The TISA Group platform also allows for other uses of Club Tokens, including loyalty incentives and other forms of marketing and fan engagement. The platform opens up even to smaller clubs, where fans can interfere directly, even financing the team in a crowdfunding effort.

The project targets sports clubs, offering tools to bring a mix of financing opportunities and fan engagement and marketing tools. TISA also sells consulting services to teams willing to make blockchain the next step in their digital transformation. 

Mogul Productions is a crypto-based film financing company, which focuses on movie celebrities. Its goal is to use all the tools of blockchain and decentralized finance to enhance Hollywood productions. One of its missions is to unlock decentralized film financing, as there is demand for fan decisions to bring their movie idea to reality.

The central asset for Mogul is the STARS token, a digital asset that is the fuel of the movie economy. STARS serves as a financing tool, and is the chief link of fans and creators. Mogul also serves as a hub for pitching projects, which are then approved by community voting. Successful projects receive both funding and consulting to realize their movies. 

The STARS token can also be used to buy exclusive movie posters, linked to NFTs. Fan engagement also happens in watching movies, resulting in rewards and bonuses. Mogul plans to run its own blockchain, making the STARS token also independent from high fees on other public networks. The tokenization process can be used to involve both large-scale movie financing, as well as grass-roots communities with an idea for production.

The STARS token will be essential for the voting mechanism. To avoid double and triple voting by “whales”, the Mogul blockchain makes each vote exponentially more expensive.

As blockchain projects gain more prominence with the wider public, fan engagement may become one of the hotspots for token transfers, NFT creation and trades and new financing opportunities.