Top Turkish club Başakşehir has joined the list of top flight clubs that have moved towards the use of blockchain in business. The club which won the Turkish league last season announced that it would launch its fan token before the end of 2020, a move which would make it join other clubs such as FC Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, Paris Saint Germain and others.

Club sides have increasingly moved towards the use of blockchain as they realized the commercial significance of the distributed ledger technology. Among the aspects that have been of interest is non-fungible collectible tokens. 

According to the statement by Başakşehir, the $IBFK, its internal token would be used to improve engagement with the club’s fans as well as confer voting rights on the holders. This enables holders to contribute to the decision-making process of the club would also be incentivized through the award of points for voters. Such fans would qualify for VIP tickets down the line. They may also be invited to meet the players for their loyalty to the club.

Think of monetization of the clubs online and offline activities and you would understand the potentials of the token economy as exemplified by last June’s FC Barcelona token sales. The Spanish club raked in $1.3 million from the sale of tokens to its fans. The sale which was conducted by Socios, the same company building Başakşehir’s tokens have been likened to the success of some projects during the ICO boom of 2017.

As demand for fan tokens rise among soccer teams, it’s been great business for makers of non-fungible collectibles such as Socios and Chiliz. The former has recently launched a Visa debit card to complement its crypto card, used across merchant locations in Europe.