January 22nd 2019, Malta: Socios.com, the tokenized fan-voting platform for sports, has begun operations within Latin America, and has appointed Marcelo Santurio as Head of Business Development to lead the venture in the region and to strengthen its position across the continent.
Santurio brings 20+ years of experience from the tech, gaming, telecoms and financial industries focussing on Latin America. With extensive experience in the sports industry, he developed and executed major sponsorship deals for McDonalds Latin America for the FIFA World Cup 2010 as well as the Olympic Games, London 2012. He also negotiated global sponsorship agreements for PokerStars with major football talent.
Santurio is based in Buenos Aires and will be responsible for building and developing the distribution of the Socios.com brand across the continent, partnering with leading telecommunications operators, digital media and retail partners. He will also be responsible for acquiring commercial partnerships with football clubs in the region.
Socios.com is the world’s first fan voting platform for sports fans fueled by the digital currency $CHZ. Fans can buy branded Fan Tokens for their favourite clubs, and in exchange, receive access to voting rights, through which they can take part in club-specific polls and votes. As well as a portal for their voices and opinions to be heard by the clubs, token-holders will also receive team-specific and platform-wide rewards, and can buy and sell Fan Tokens on the app’s marketplace.
Last year, Socios.com announced landmark partnerships with Italian Champions Juventus, the home of Paulo Dybala, as well as French Champions Paris Saint Germain, the home of Neymar Jr and Angel di Maria. More teams will be announced prior to the platform launch in Q2 2019.
The popularity of sports in Latin America, and football in particular, is high, with 62% of football fans stating that they are more interested in the beautiful game than any other sports, according to recent Nielsen research commissioned by Socios.com.
Magnus Linder, Head of Partnerships & Business Development at Socios.comsaid: “I’m delighted to add Marcelo to the Business Development team. His appointment will allow us to build brand awareness with sports teams in Latin America, help us increase and further the proliferation and education of blockchain technology and to start engaging with sports fans across the continent.”
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Notes to Editors:
For further information, please contact:
Waylon Johnston, Corporate Communications Manager
waylon@chiliz.com, +356 9924 2222
About Socios.com
Socios.com helps football clubs achieve digital transformation through blockchain technology. Socios.com is powered by the chiliZ token ($CHZ), an ERC20 utility token on the Ethereum blockchain. Fan Tokens are specific to a team or a club, and are a finite, digital asset that provides access to an encrypted, immutable ledger of voting and membership rights ownership. The tokenized fan-voting platform uses Fan Tokens, which operate on a separate permissioned side chain. The Fan Tokens are limited in number, and are fungible, meaning their ownership can be traded, and their price is driven by the market. The platform is being developed to help sports teams increase fan engagement and achieve essential investment from fan-monetization. The venture was inspired by the fan-led management frameworks or ‘socios’ of some major football clubs. Dubbed ‘Socios 2.0’, the platform simply represents the digitisation of this model of management. Earlier this year, the team behind Socios.com raised more than $66 million in funding, including investment from some of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges (Binance) and leading Asian crypto funds. Socios.com is certified by CertiK, a formal verification framework to mathematically prove that smart contracts and blockchain ecosystems are bug-free and hacker-resistant.
