Fan Tokens: Sports and Speculation on the Blockchain

Abstract

This paper provides an economic analysis of fan tokens, which are collectible utility tokens issued by sports clubs. We document that fan token prices are highly volatile and substantially riskier than those of established cryptocurrencies. For a subset of publicly listed clubs, we find that stock and token returns are uncorrelated. Instead, fan tokens tend to closely co-move with each other and the main cryptocurrencies used for buying them. Returns are lower on days when the club unexpectedly loses a game, but higher on days of increased investor attention towards fan tokens. The results suggest that while fan tokens may provide some non-monetary utility, as financial assets they are highly speculative and in many aspects resemble cryptocurrencies.

Keywords: Fan tokens, Cryptocurrency, Soccer

JEL Classification: G12, G14, G15, G41, Z23