Crypto could impact sports fans, says Chiliz CEO

Speakers at the Upbit D blockchain conference discussed the blockchain's impact on industries like entertainment and sports. They emphasized the importance of safeguards against money laundering in the growing digital assets market.

Chiliz CEO Alexandre Dreyfus speaks at the Upbit D Conference, an annual blockchain event that Dunamu hosted at Grand Walkerhill Seoul in eastern Seoul on Monday. [DUMAMU]

Speakers from around the world discussed blockchain technology at the annual Upbit D Conference (UDC), which took place in Seoul on Monday.

UDC was hosted by Dunamu, which operates Upbit, Korea's largest cryptocurrency exchange. The conference brought blockchain developers together to discuss the industry’s potential and the impacts it will have in people’s daily lives.

The speakers touched on trends, policy and regulations, business, finance and entertainment among other topics.

In the entertainment category, Chiliz CEO Alexandre Dreyfus discussed ways in which blockchain could impact sports fans.

The Malta-based, blockchain-powered platform Chiliz connects sports clubs and celebrities to their fans through use of its native cryptocurrency, which is also called Chiliz. Celebrities and brands can provide users with various incentives, such as exclusive experiences and merchandise, in exchange for Chiliz tokens.

“Everything — finance, dating, travel — has been disrupted, enhanced by technology,” Dreyfus said. “Sports hasn’t. Sports will never change. But relationships between fans and sports will change from passive fans to active fans, which is where blockchain will be useful.”

Fans, with fan tokens, can take part in on-chain voting on various agendas for sports events, such as the songs that are are played during games.

On-chain voting is a governance system in which individual votes are submitted as transactions and recorded directly on the blockchain. A fan token is a cryptocurrency associated with a sports team.

The company's ultimate goal is to enable the use of fan tokens with major sports brands such as Nike and Adidas.

Protections against money laundering, which are becoming critical as digital assets grow in prominence, were also discussed.

The industry is highly focused on safeguarding investors amid the current upsurge in money laundering, hacking and fraud, said Alec Zebrick, manager of investigations for the Asia Pacific region at the New York-based blockchain analysis firm Chainanalysis.

Zebrick said understanding the blockchain, properly interpreting data, resolving situations and applying those outcomes to different cases are important steps in preventing crime.

Other speakers included SK Telecom Executive Vice President Oh Se-hyeong, who shared insights into the present landscape of and future visions for Web 3.0 and blockchain services in Korea, and CoinDesk executive director Emily Parker, who touched on the burgeoning need for structured regulations and policies to govern the digital asset market.

BY JIN MIN-JI [jin.minji@joongang.co.kr]