One of the biggest challenges cryptocurrency projects face is finding the right type of real-world integration and a use case that can spark a new waves of adoption.
Integrating blockchain and cryptocurrency with professional sports has been the expected “next wave” for some time and Chiliz (CHZ), a protocol focused on creating a fan engagement platform for various sports leagues, made headlines for its new developments this week.
Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that the price of CHZ has increased 69% from its 2022 low of $0.144 to hit a daily high of $0.256 on April 13.
CHZ price has been building momentum and a new partnership between the Socios.com fan engagement platform and thirteen National Football League (NFL) teams, plus the success of the platform’s European Football team tokens appear to be adding to the bullish sentiment. The project also plans to host its public testnet launch of Chiliz Chain 2.0.
New NFL partnerships could spark growth
The most recent development to spark a price rally in CHZ was the April 13 announcement that the network’s Socios.com sports fan engagement platform signed multi-year marketing agreements with 13 NFL teams.
13 in one day.
Take a bow, @SociosUSA
— Socios.com (@socios) April 13, 2022
This agreement marks a significant escalation in the project’s presence in American sports leagues and the NFL in particular because it had previously only been working with the New England Patriots.
Success of the European football team tokens
Another reason for the building momentum for Chiliz has been the success of the fan tokens, which were created for a handful of European football teams.
With football being the most popular sport in Europe, Socios has focused on forming partnerships with some of the most popular teams, leagues and players to help expand its presence and attract new users.
Most recently, the platform signed a marketing partnership with Lionel Messi, making the star forward the first global ambassador for the platform.
Lionel Messi and Fan Token creators @socios have joined forces, uniting to build a more inclusive, exciting and rewarding future for fans across the world. @alex_dreyfus https://t.co/2d87cwBUJW pic.twitter.com/rp0DBf3bX8
— Leo Messi (@WeAreMessi) March 29, 2022
Related: Chiliz launches public testnet for its new layer-1 blockchain
Like other mainnet launches, Chiliz Chain 2.0 could be a catalyst
On March 31, the “Scoville” public testnet launched a new layer-1 blockchain network called Chiliz Chain 2.0.
We’re extremely happy to present to you, the CC2 testnet – Chiliz Scoville Testnet ️https://t.co/Fn3ATVvinm
— Chiliz ($CHZ) – Powering Socios.com ⚡ (@Chiliz) March 31, 2022
CC2 is designed to help sports and entertainment brands introduce Web3 capabilities, including the ability to mint NFTs and fan tokens. It will also build out decentralized finance (DeFi) products and play-to-earn games, create events, and host loyalty and merchandising programs.
The new chain has adopted a proof-of-stake authority (PoSA) model, which is estimated to be up to 2,000 times more energy-efficient than proof-of-work models and it will be Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)-compatible but offer transaction costs that are 200 times cheaper than the Ethereum network.
VORTECS™ data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro began to detect a bullish outlook for CHZ on April 12, prior to the recent price rise.
The VORTECS™ Score, exclusive to Cointelegraph, is an algorithmic comparison of historical and current market conditions derived from a combination of data points including market sentiment, trading volume, recent price movements and Twitter activity.
As seen in the chart above, the VORTECS™ Score for CHZ climbed into the green zone on April 12 and hit a high of 81 around 16 hours before the NFL partnership was announced and sparked a 17.3% rally.
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