Securitize and Socios team up on tokenized sports-team equity

Securitize and Chiliz Group-powered Socios.com are partnering to develop regulated tokenized equity offerings for minority stakes in professional sports teams. The offerings will use the Socios Equity Token brand. The estimated global professional sports franchise market is $500 billion. Socios.com will lead sports-industry and fan relationships. Securitize (SECZ) will handle regulated securities issuance, investor onboarding, ownership records and transfers across its U.S. and European infrastructure. The firms said the partnership is intended to serve eligible fans seeking a deeper economic relationship with teams and institutional and private-equity investors seeking exposure to an alternative asset class. The initiative is expected to be the first project launched through Securitize's fully authorized European Trading & Settlement System under the EU DLT Pilot Regime. The system could give eligible fans and institutional investors greater access to the sports franchise market. Details on participating teams, offering terms, investor eligibility and supported blockchain networks will be announced when individual offerings receive approval. Socios.com has issued fan tokens with more than 70 sports organizations. Most of those organizations are soccer-based clubs. Securitize CEO Carlos Domingo said regulated infrastructure in the United States and Europe can help teams and owners issue and administer equity. He said the infrastructure can preserve investor protections and ownership rights associated with regulated securities. RWA.xyz data shows that the market capitalization of tokenized real-world assets has more than doubled over the past year and is nearing $40 billion. Securitize went public on the New York Stock Exchange in July through a $400 million SPAC deal. Securitize also launched tokenized versions of full SECZ shares on Solana and Avalanche that day. The launch was described as an industry first. Securitize President Brett Redfearn said the timing was good because tokenization in financial services was approaching a tipping point. Redfearn also described Securitize as the leading infrastructure builder in the sector.