Chiliz (CHZ) is the blockchain infrastructure behind Socios.com, the fan-engagement platform where supporters buy club-branded tokens to vote on minor club decisions, unlock rewards and enter prize draws. CHZ is the gas and settlement token that powers it all.
What Chiliz does
Sports and esports organisations — FC Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain, Juventus, AC Milan, UFC and dozens of others — issue their own Fan Tokens (BAR, PSG, JUV and so on) on Chiliz Chain, an EVM-compatible layer 1 built by the company. Fans buy Fan Tokens with CHZ on Socios.com, then use them to vote in club polls on things like a locker-room slogan or a friendly-match opponent, plus access merchandise drops, meet-and-greets and app perks.
CHZ itself is the native asset used to pay gas on Chiliz Chain and the primary currency for purchasing Fan Tokens. Chiliz Chain 2.0, launched in 2023, moved the network onto its own Cosmos-adjacent, Ethermint-based infrastructure to cut fees and improve throughput compared with its earlier Ethereum-sidechain design. The company, founded by Alexandre Dreyfus, has also pushed into Formula-based motorsport, basketball and UFC partnerships to diversify beyond football.
Risks worth knowing
The core product is governance-lite: most Fan Token votes are cosmetic rather than material to club operations, and the speculative appeal that drove 2021's fan-token mania has largely faded, with CHZ trading far below its all-time high. Regulators in some jurisdictions have questioned whether fan tokens sold with the promise of price appreciation function more like unregistered securities than utility tokens, which is a live overhang.
Value also depends heavily on continued sponsorship-style deals with clubs, which are commercial contracts subject to renewal and renegotiation — lose a marquee partner and the platform loses a chunk of its draw. Add in thin trading volumes for many individual Fan Tokens and genuine competition from other fan-engagement and loyalty platforms, and CHZ remains a narrative-driven asset more than a cash-flow-backed one.