Chiliz Commits 10% of US Fan Token Proceeds to Major $CHZ Buyback and Burn

Chiliz just lit a match under its own tokenomics. The sports blockchain giant is taking a portion of the cash flow from its US fan token offerings and funneling it directly into a deflationary furnace.

Turning Revenue into Scarcity

The move is straightforward: ten percent of all proceeds generated from its stateside fan token sales won't go to marketing or expansion. Instead, that capital gets deployed to buy $CHZ off the open market and permanently destroy it. It's a classic play from the corporate share buyback handbook—just with more blockchain and fewer quarterly earnings calls.

For a platform built on monetizing fan engagement, it's a clever pivot. Instead of just extracting value from sports fans, Chiliz is now programmatically redirecting a slice of that revenue back into its own ecosystem's foundation. The burn mechanism aims to create artificial scarcity, putting upward pressure on the remaining token supply by systematically removing chunks of it from circulation.

A Cynical Nod to Traditional Finance

Let's be real—it's a page torn right from the playbook of legacy companies trying to inflate their stock price without improving fundamentals. In crypto, they just call it 'tokenomics' and add a blockchain receipt.

The strategy signals confidence, or at least the appearance of it. Committing future revenue to a buyback suggests the company expects those US fan tokens to keep selling. If the fan engagement engine sputters, the burn rate slows. It's a direct feedback loop between product success and token deflation.

For $CHZ holders, it's a bullish signal wrapped in a utility promise. The platform isn't just building; it's actively consuming its own supply with money earned from its core product. Whether this creates lasting value or just a temporary pump depends entirely on whether those fan tokens are a fad or the future of sports monetization.

When will Chiliz return to the US?

The announcement is coming amid the platform’s push into SportFi, which is supposed to be a combination of sports and DeFi. Chiliz has been pushing heavily into the new genre, a MOVE that represents a major evolution from its initial focus on Fan Tokens as a means of fan engagement.

The platform’s manifesto positions the platform as a key to unlocking the $1 trillion sports economy via blockchain and hopes to turn sports assets into tradable, yield-bearing, and financially productive elements using Web3 tools.

On the entry of fan tokens into the US

Before FTX collapsed, Chiliz was already working on establishing a presence in the US; however, when the exchange fell, those plans were put on hold. That time was plagued with regulatory uncertainty as well as the effects of the FTX fallout, which further stressed an ailing industry.

It was around that time Chiliz left the US market. Fast forward to 2026, and things have drastically changed, fortunately for the better. And Chiliz is once again plotting an expansion into the US market, with its Fan Tokens still a big part of its vision.

“With the new administration adopting a more proactive stance towards crypto, Chiliz sees the U.S. as a hugely untapped market for Fan Tokens,” James Newman, Chiliz’s Chief Corporate Affairs Officer, said.

The improved regulatory clarity, together with the fact that opportunities for Fan engagement through Fan tokens abound in the US, makes it clear why Chiliz is finally considering a return to US markets.

The launch of Fan Tokens in the US is expected to happen in the coming months, with the first US partnership expected to be announced in the first quarter. The company has invested $50 million towards the endeavor and is already reportedly in talks with major leagues and regulators, as it prepares the ground for a potential large-scale return.

However, while Chiliz has in the past experimented with athlete-led promotions, collaborating with stars such as Lionel Messi and Minjae Kim, the company has no plans to create fan tokens for individual players.

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