A Maltese blockchain company is at the heart of a decision by football giants Paris-Saint Germain to give its fans voting rights on certain club decisions.

PSG recently signed a partnership with Socios, a Maltese blockchain company which was set up to digitise the ‘socios’ fan voting right concept that is used by Real Madrid and Barcelona.

Socios is powered by a Maltese sports blockchain venture called chiliZ, which is baked by high-profile players in the blockchain industry such as crypto-trading giant Binance and Ethereum co-founder Stephen Nerayoff and has already raised some $65 million.

PSG’s partnership with Socios will allow it to launch a fan token offering, meaning its supporters will be able to buy branded club tokens that in turn will grant them certain voting rights and render them applicable for certain rewards.

While tactical decisions will remain fully in the hands of the manager, PSG fans will reportedly be able to vote on decisions such as the club’s kit colour, stadium music, friendly matches and summer tours, charity match line-ups and the Player of the Match or Month.

Chiliz CEO Alexandre Dreyfus (left) takes a selfie in Valletta with Binance boss Zhao Changpeng

Chiliz CEO Alex Dreyfus said the PSG partnership will only be the beginning.

“We are focusing on onboarding the biggest clubs in Europe and in the coming weeks, we will announce other big clubs who will also be joining our platform. Outside of France, our priority is clubs in the UK, Italy, Spain and Germany,” he told crypto news website CCN.

PSG’s chief partnership officer Marc Armstrong said the club is determined to leverage the opportunities that cryptocurrencies can provide.

“This revolutionary technology will have an important impact on the club’s overall business strategy and the way we engage with our fanbase”, he said.

Who is Alex Dreyfus?

The chiliZ blockchain campus in Gzira

A French digital entrepreneur, Dreyfus moved to Malta over a decade ago to set up Chilipoker, a successful online poker rooms whose revenue runs in the tens of millions.

Renowned as a shrewd businessman, Dreyfus didn’t waste any time jumping on board after the Maltese government announced a globally pioneering law to regulate companies that operate on DLT technology.

Other than setting up chiliZ, he has also positioned himself as director of the Maltese subsidiaries of Binance and Tron – another crypto-trading giant.

In July, he announced plans to set up a blockchain campus in Gzira that would house blockchain companies and serve as a networking and meeting space for the crypto industry.

Are you excited about Malta’s future in the crypto industry?

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Tim Diacono

Tim is interested in the rapid evolution of human society and is passionate about justice, human rights and cutting-edge political debates. You can follow him on Instagram or Twitter/X at @timdiacono or reach out to him at [email protected]