Securitize, Socios.com Team Up to Tokenize Stakes in Pro Sports Clubs

Securitize and sports fan platform Socios.com are developing security tokens that would allow investors to buy tokenized minority stakes in professional sports clubs.

The companies signed a partnership to launch regulated token securities backed by equity interests in pro sports clubs under the Socios Equity Token brand, The Block reported on September 2.

Socios.com will be responsible for building relationships with sports clubs and fans. Securitize will oversee securities issuance, investor onboarding, ownership records and transfers using the regulatory infrastructure it has built in the US and Europe.

The companies said the venture is intended to give fans an economic link to the teams they support. It would also give institutional investors and private equity firms access to professional sports clubs as an alternative asset class.

The project would be the first to use Securitize's trading and settlement system built under the European Union's DLT pilot regime. The companies expect that to broaden investment access to the global professional sports club market, which they estimate at about $500 billion.

Socios.com, operated by Chiliz Group, has issued fan tokens with more than 70 sports teams and organizations so far. Many of those partnerships are with soccer clubs.

The companies have not disclosed which teams will participate, the terms of token issuance, investor eligibility requirements or the blockchains that will be supported. They said those details will be announced when individual products receive approval.

"Professional sports clubs are a sizable asset class, but most remain in private markets, making them difficult for investors to access," Securitize Chief Executive Officer Carlos Domingo said. "With regulatory infrastructure in the US and Europe, we can preserve investor protection and ownership rights while giving clubs and owners a new way to issue and manage equity."

The market capitalization of tokenized real-world assets has more than doubled over the past year and is approaching $40 billion, according to RWA.xyz. Securitize listed on the New York Stock Exchange in July through a $400 million SPAC merger. On the same day, it launched tokenized versions of its shares on Solana and Avalanche.