In German-speaking countries,
BSC Young Boys is currently the only club that has published Fan Tokens (as of February 2022). It is possible that more clubs will join in the future and we would like to present what this could look like using FC Basel as an example.
To generate fan tokens and put them into circulation in tranches, there are various approaches: On the one hand, there is the possibility of taking care of the technical details oneself, on the other hand, there is the possibility of entering into a partnership in order to facilitate the process steps. Currently,
Socios is probably the largest platform offering fan tokens. A partnership is recommended in most cases, as very few clubs have the technical knowledge to take care of everything themselves. A partnership with Socios is essentially free, but there is a contractual agreement on how many percentages of the proceeds go to which party. Upon issuance, a fixed amount of tokens is set to be issued over a predetermined period of time.
To create a successful project, a community must be brought together and animated. A club already has a basic interest of fans who are loyal to the club. It is important here that the fans are introduced to the topic of "fan tokens". It should be made as easy as possible for an interested party to find out about the topic, buy and sell Fan Tokens, and participate in voting. Simplicity should be the highest priority, even if it means more effort for the club itself. Advertisements should be placed on various platforms to draw the attention of the broad masses to the project. In addition to the classic media such as TV and radio, the stadium itself is also an ideal advertising platform for FC Basel.
Potential NFTs (non-fungible tokens, i.e. unique objects stored on the blockchain) can also be considered. Various clubs, such as BSC YB, have already published the first NFTs, which are digital autograph cards of players. However, in view of the simplicity mentioned above, we would generally recommend to deal with the topic of NFTs only after a successful fan token implementation.
Conclusion and outlook
Community tokens are becoming more and more popular and deserve their rightful place in the digital world. There are endless projects that are already working with tokens today and many more will follow. We believe that the possibilities of community tokens bring a much greater advantage compared to the potential risks. The main risk is fraud, which can be a problem in almost any novel and innovative project. The benefits of community tokens include the decentralized storage of the tokens and the ability to create value with like-minded individuals through the token. The past has shown that fan token projects for various clubs can be quite successful.
Finally, a brief digression into the private sector: It might be more difficult to form a community in a company, because you have a smaller "solid" core compared to the fans of a club. The incentives would therefore be primarily financial. With creative solutions on how to also create further incentives and build a solid community, we see enormous potential in the use of community tokens for this sector as well. For example, this could be the beginning of a decentralized company: The CEO no longer distributes tasks to his employees in a linear fashion, but instead creates orders that can be accepted by any person within the company. If an employee accepts an order and completes it successfully, this person receives a sum of company tokens defined in the order. These company tokens can then be exchanged for "real" money and represent the monthly salary. With this company structure, the only question is which people are authorized to create orders and who is allowed to accept them. We are therefore looking forward to the future of community tokens and are curious to find out how companies will solve these issues when they are implemented.