The Italian football club AC Milan has launched its own fan token (ACM), prompting the team to ask fans for a new motto. They are one of many clubs to get involved with the blockchain technology, driving the adoption in different areas than just the financial industry.
The club announced the partnership in January 2021. But now, the token will be made available on the fan engagement and rewards app Socios. Together with the launch, the AC Milan marketing team asked fans to devise a new motto for the group, replacing the infamous: "We will be a team of devils. Our colors will be red like fire and black like the fear we will invoke in our opponents."
The motto will make its way into the team’s first dressing room at San Siro as inspiration for the current Serie A season. ACM holders will also benefit from a series of extra features.
$ACM - AC Milan Fan Token 🎉
Now trading! https://t.co/yqXh9RWIyH
⚡️ $CHZ pic.twitter.com/WixDfnRpr2
— Chiliz - The Sports Blockchain ⚽🏆 (@Chiliz) February 11, 2021
These include participation in team decisions, exclusive rewards, and experiences, as well as virtual memorabilia, competitions, and “super-fan” recognition.
Decentralized Supporters
The seven-time world champions (UEFA Super Cup five-time and Cup Winners’ Cup twice) join a growing list of world-class teams entering the fan token space. Last year, Juventus and Paris St. Germain launched their own fan tokens, JUV and PSG, in collaboration with Chiliz. The launch also made the token available on the same app, giving fans access to exclusive club benefits.
Additionally, both tokens were listed by cryptocurrency exchange Binance in December, seeing surges of over 300% on the first day of trade. Binance also listed ATM and ASR fan tokens, representing Spanish teams Atlético Madrid and Italian team Roma Football Club.
Interestingly, the listing also included an electronic sports (eSports) team, OG. The OG team plays online competitive games such as Dota 2 and launched in 2015. It has collected over $26.6 million in prize money since.
Will AC Milan Fan Tokens Take Off?
The entry of the elite and eSports worlds into the cryptocurrency scene shows a growing interest from non-finance related industries.
Chiliz is attempting to use decentralized ledger technology (DLT) to encourage fan participation in elite sports at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic is barring audiences from games.
Whilst Satoshi invented blockchain technology (or at least the Bitcoin blockchain) to solve a particular problem in finance, it’s noteworthy that others see its use elsewhere. Whatever the future of fan tokens, they continue to add to the adoption narrative.
