What is Socios.com?
A first-of-its-kind mobile app for football fans, Socios.com gets you closer to the team you love by allowing you – the superfan – to vote on club-specific decisions. Maybe your team wants to change their crest; maybe they want to check opinion on a kit design; or maybe they want to know who fans would like to meet at a club event – it’s you they will ask, and it’s you they will listen to. It’s like having a direct line to your club’s front office in your pocket.
What else do I get?
As well as the right to vote, you get access to unique rewards – once-in-a-lifetime experiences, exclusive merchandise, prediction games, match-day challenges and much much more. Check out our Twitter or Instagram to see some of the rewards that fans have already experienced.
How does it work?
Each and every one of our partner clubs has committed to a number of binding and non-binding polls throughout the course of the football season. Each poll will have a minimum of two choices, so you simply pick the choice which you like best. With binding votes, the club has an obligation to ensure that the selection which receives the highest number of votes will be brought to life. Non-binding polls will be used by the clubs to gauge fan opinion, but they don’t necessarily have to act upon the result. All polls take place in a secure environment, and all votes cast are registered on the blockchain, so the results are transparent and can’t be altered.
What type of decisions will I get to vote on?
The subject of the polls is determined by the clubs, but the possibilities are endless depending on how much fan input the clubs seek. You could decide on kit design, who wins ‘man of the match’, match locations for the summer tour, club crest and much much more.
So how do I vote?
On behalf of our partner clubs, Socios.com generates a supply of digital assets – we call these Fan Tokens. These Fan Tokens act as your ‘right to vote’, but also give you access to unique rewards.
What are Fan Tokens?
Fan Tokens are digital assets that represent your ownership of a voting right. Once acquired, they remain in your possession as long as the club remains on the Socios.com platform or until you decide to sell them. Fan Tokens can be sold on the app’s marketplace.
How many Fan Tokens do I need to vote?
One Fan Token is equal to one right to vote in every poll that the club publishes. Your Fan Tokens are not ‘spent’ on a poll, meaning that your supply of Fan Tokens will not decrease when you vote. In fact, to give you a sneak peak of our future plans for Socios.com, we are planning a new feature which will give you points when you vote and interact with the app; the more points you earn, the more you move up through the different levels of membership.
Can I own more than one Fan Token?
Yes. The more Fan Tokens you own, the more influence you can exert because every Fan Token gives you a vote. For example, if you own ten Fan Tokens, your vote will count ten times in any poll. However, each club will impose an upper limit on how many Fan Tokens one individual supporter can own for integrity purposes and to ensure that no one fan can control decision-making.
Do I need to buy a new Fan Token every time I want to vote?
No. Ownership of a Fan Token gives you a right to vote, rather than one single vote. So even with just one Fan Token, you can vote in every single poll that is published by the club. Your Fan Tokens are never ‘spent’, so your balance only decreases if you decide to sell.
How do I get Fan Tokens?
Fan Tokens can be bought directly on the app through a process known as a Fan Token Offering or FTO®. You will be able to purchase your Fan Token by using $CHZ – the digital currency of Socios.com – which is also available for purchase directly on the app. It is a simple process where both the Fan Tokens and $CHZ can be purchased within the app using your debit or credit card, once you have provided us with a valid and verified email address.
How much will a Fan Token cost?
We know being a fan can be expensive, especially when you factor in the cost of tickets, membership and merchandise. Fan Token prices are determined by the individual clubs but we’ve purposefully set prices low at the point of the initial Fan Token Sale (FTO®) to ensure they are both affordable and accessible for all fans. If a Fan Token is sold on the in-app marketplace, the price is set by the seller and/or determined by supply and demand. Please note that as Fan Tokens are always purchased using $CHZ, prices will be displayed in $CHZ and in most cases, in traditional currencies as well. This will help fans understand the value of $CHZ.
What is $CHZ?
Here comes the complicated bit. Socios.com is built on blockchain technology and uses a digital currency (cryptocurrency) called $CHZ. Unlike physical currencies such as pounds, euros and dollars that you spend in a shop or online, cryptocurrencies only exist in the digital space and can only be spent on certain platforms. Instead of a central authority like a high street or internet bank, cryptocurrencies use an encrypted peer-to-peer network to store your balance, as well as to confirm and verify transactions. This network is called a blockchain, but think of it like a huge public list of every transaction that has ever been made. This blockchain is stored on a computer (or ‘node’) and lists the sender, receiver, value and approximate time of every transaction, all verified and anonymised. Each new transaction is a new block, and each new block is immutable, meaning it cannot be altered once set. We use blockchain because it is the most practical way to maintain voting integrity while turning voting rights into an ownable commodity, ie Fan Tokens.
How can I buy $CHZ?
Although the app is built on blockchain, the technology is invisible. Buying $CHZ through the app itself is as easy as any e-commerce purchase. You can buy $CHZ by topping-up your wallet on the app itself or, if you are a regular user of cryptocurrencies, you can buy through cryptocurrency exchanges and transfer your $CHZ to your Socios.com wallet.
When can $CHZ be purchased?
$CHZ will be available on major cryptocurrency exchanges in the near future, or from the app itself upon launch.
Can I buy $CHZ for other people?
Yes but the recipient would need to have a virtual wallet and also be in a jurisdiction where the purchase and holding of cryptocurrency is legal.
Is it secure?
The whole point of blockchain is to allow people to share valuable data in a secure, tamperproof way. Blockchains store data using sophisticated maths and innovative software rules that are extremely difficult for attackers to manipulate. Added to that, by using a public ledger of information that is distributed across a peer-to-peer network, blockchain ensures the security and integrity of data by not having a single point of failure.
When can Fan Tokens be purchased?
Fan Tokens will be available for purchase at the start of the 19/20 season. Free Fan Tokens and $CHZ will be available to collect as soon as the app is available to download.
How many Fan Tokens will be produced?
The total supply of Fan Tokens is dependent on the club and the size of the club’s fan base. However, the total number is finite, meaning that there will never be more than the total initial supply.
Will every fan around the world be able to buy a Fan Token?
No. Fan Tokens are limited in number and are sold on a first-come, first served basis. If you miss out and the Fan Tokens are sold out during the FTO®, you can try to buy via the app’s marketplace from other Token holders.
What happens if I no longer want my Fan Tokens?
You can sell your Fan Tokens to other users via the in-app marketplace. Once you sell, you sell for $CHZ, which you can then withdraw and exchange to whichever traditional currency you use.
What if my club has not partnered with Socios.com?
Sucks to be you! No seriously, through the app you can pledge to be the first to buy your club’s Fan Tokens if they are not yet a Socios.com partner. If enough fans are interested, we hope this will persuade other clubs to join.
How do I sign-up?
Go to www.socios.com to register your interest. Don’t worry, we’ll let you know when the app is available to download in the App Store or on Google Play.
When will the app be available in the App Store or on Google Play?
Socios.com will be available to download in early Q3. You can register your interest via www.socios.com and we’ll let you know as soon as it’s available or iOS users can pre-order through the App Store.
