Animoca Brands, a venture capital firm, has decided to become a validator in Chiliz Chain, a blockchain network that hosts fan tokens used by various prominent football and sports teams through Socios.com. The Chiliz Chain, acting as the backbone of Socios.com, supports a wide array of fan tokens for major sports clubs and popular sports brands. This partnership sees Animoca Brands join as a validator in the proof-of-stake authority protocol of Chiliz Chain, aiming to further strengthen its position in the sports and entertainment blockchain sphere.
Yat Siu, co-founder of Animoca Brands, expressed the significance of this collaboration, highlighting the opportunity for their company to merge its expertise in non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and gaming with Chiliz's proficiency in providing blockchain solutions for sports and entertainment. Siu emphasized their anticipation for the growth of SportFi, anticipating it to redefine fan engagement and introduce new financial dynamics within the sports industry, following the trends of DeFi and GameFi.
CEO of Chiliz, Alexandre Dreyfus, commented on Animoca's inclusion as a network validator, acknowledging it as a pivotal moment for Chiliz. Dreyfus underlined the importance of solidifying Chiliz's stance as a leading blockchain solution geared towards fostering Web3 capabilities across diverse sports industries.
Among various network validators of Chiliz Chain, Animoca Brands is the newest addition, joining other entities like Ankr, Paribu, Meria, Luganoes, and InfStones. These validators, similar to proof-of-stake protocols like Ethereum, play a crucial role in authorizing fan token creation, NFTs, decentralized applications, transaction verification, and executing smart contracts within the Chiliz Chain ecosystem.
Animoca Brands' significant investment in the Web3 sports space includes products such as One Fight Arena, AFL Mint, and REVV Motorsport, which encompasses MotoGP Ignition, MotoGP Guru, Formula E: HighVoltage, REVV Racing, Torque Drift, and more. The company's acquisition of French racing game developer Eden Games in April 2022 for $15.3 million aimed to bolster talent in racing game development, enhancing the REVV Motorsport ecosystem and introducing blockchain games centered on this genre. Chiliz's move to launch its Layer 1 Ethereum Virtual Machine-compatible blockchain ecosystem in February 2023 is a strategic step to support its growth, promising faster block times, reduced fees, and energy-efficient operations compared to its previous Ethereum-based ERC-20 token ecosystem.
