A new decentralized finance model (DeFi) targets a long-standing problem faced by football clubs: short-term liquidity gaps caused by uneven cash flow from media and commercial contracts.
According to an email announcement shared with CoinDesk on Monday, the decentralized protocol hosted on the Chiliz blockchain enables clubs and sports organizations to increase stablecoin liquidity by tokenizing future receivables such as broadcast rights and using them as on-chain collateral.
Investors contribute money to a decentralized pool, and clubs gain access to capital faster without having to rely on banks or specialized funds, which often charge high fees and impose strict management requirements.
Chiliz said in an announcement on Monday that Decentral will hold an initial liquidity pool of USDC stablecoin of US$1 million, with a lock-up period of 90 days and an expected annualized rate of 12%.
better access to capital
This approach solves a long-standing pain point in sports finance.
Clubs often hold valuable long-term contracts but struggle to meet day-to-day financial needs, especially outside the most elite clubs. By converting these future revenues into real-world assets (RWA) on-chain, the model enables faster settlement, increased transparency, and global access to capital.
Tokenization of RWA refers to the process of representing traditional financial assets such as stocks and bonds as digital tokens that can be bought, sold, and traded on the blockchain.
Chiliz founder Alex Dreyfus said the development reflects the transition of “SportFi” from concept to practicality, as blockchain infrastructure is used to fund the core mechanics of the sports economy.
Chiliz is one of SportFi’s leading projects, bridging the gap between traditional sports business models and blockchain technology. Historically, the most popular use case in this space has been the issuance of fan tokens – cryptocurrencies that allow holders to speculate on the team’s wealth while also receiving exclusive rewards and experiences.