TigerXV wrote: ↑Tue Jul 19, 2022 10:21 am
murphy15 wrote: ↑Tue Jul 19, 2022 9:12 am
jgriffin wrote: ↑Tue Jul 19, 2022 9:03 am
My stepson is a graphic artist and got involved in the NFT market, producing art and literary work, in partnership with a member of a world-famous rock band (family connections). After a year, both declared it a disastrous con.
The con is partly in the way that some people/businesses are using them, but also that they're mostly being bought by naive, greedy fools who want everything they touch to magically turn to gold. NFT technology could be very useful to prevent forgery and prove ownership - gig tickets, season passes to games, fan engagement, etc., but as fixed-price entities, not vehicles for enormous profit/speculation.
as a bit of an old duffer myself you appear to understand this business and are responding with both knowledge and balance - i wonder, if you have time, if you could explain how this new venture works and how it is a 'crypto scam' or simply using a platform for engagement to a geographically far reaching fan base. Also, how you think the club might have structured the sponsorship deal? thanks in advance!
I suppose the first thing to say is that fan tokens aren't scams - you'll get the benefits of token ownership that the club and its partner (Socios) say you will, whether that be access to the players' lounge, votes on kit design, a free pint here and there - whatever they decide to offer. As long as you keep the tokens you have bought and the partnership stays live, those things will all apply. Think of it as a digital ticket - you buy one token, it's like a low tier of ticket, so you get fewer perks. Buy more tokens, then it's like spending extra on a matchday ticket for a better seat.
There are three reasons why people call this a scam. 1) People think that anything involving blockchain is somehow linked to Bitcoin, or other high-profile cryptocurrencies, which have been susceptible to pump-and-dump investment fraud.
Fan tokens aren't a cryptocurrency - that's the first thing to set right. They're more like an access pass.
2) Blockchain technology came to the fore in the main because people started making enormous amounts of money from it, seemingly for no reason. So now, people look to invest in these things purely to get a huge return on their investment - and when they don't, they get angry and call it a scam - whether it is or it isn't.
Fan tokens, historically, have not gone up in value. I think that clubs have overestimated the engagement that they might generate. But if you're a fan, why are you buying tokens as a money-making thing? Surely it's about the access those tokens provide? If I buy a club shirt, I'm not doing so in order to sell it for profit. So, as long as you are comfortable with buying a certain level of access in the knowledge that if you ever want to sell it, you're unlikely to make your money back, there's no issue.
3) This is a relatively new technology in a completely unregulated market saturated with jargon. This means that people can scam each other with impunity. So, they do.
If Tigers have spent money on this deal (an initial outlay for Socios to set up the blockchain ledger, followed by either an upfront amount of tokens purchased, or a profit share on token purchases) and are expecting to recoup it/make a profit based on token sales and increasing value, they're complete idiots. That doesn't really impact the fans who have bought the tokens though - as I said before, as long as the partnership with Socios is "live", you get the advertised benefits that you paid for.