The 2021 wave of fan-owned digital products has mostly lost more than 90% of its value. Chiliz, the company behind Socios fan tokens, trades about 96% below its 2021 peak. NBA Top Shot's monthly sales fell more than 95% from the top. Sorare's revenue dropped 27% in a year. What survived was tied to something the fan could do with the thing they owned: play, get in, prove it was real. Supply killed the rest.
What happened to fan tokens
Chiliz and its Socios platform issue fan tokens for more than 170 sports organisations. The fan-token market cap passed $1bn in 2025 and the company reports more than $700m delivered to sports partners over its life. Its own token, CHZ, trades about 96% below its 2021 peak, with a market cap around $257m in mid-2026. In August 2026 the company launched a Socios Equity Token aimed at tokenising minority club equity, citing OnePoll research that 72% of fans would pay an average of £913 for a club equity digital asset and framing professional franchises as a roughly $500bn pool of illiquid assets. That is an emerging product with an unsettled regulatory position, and the only view we take here is that it exists.
What happened to NBA Top Shot
Top Shot is the clearest case study because the numbers are public. In February 2021 it generated $224m of sales, with more than 80,000 unique buyers, more than a million registered accounts and a single day of $45m. The average moment sold for $27 in December 2020 and $181.81 two months later. By February 2023, monthly sales were about $2.9m, a fall of more than 95% (Benzinga, citing CryptoSlam). The NFL's equivalent, NFL All Day, was described as hundreds of millions off target.
The Ringer's February 2025 post-mortem put the cause in one ratio. At the peak there were 13 moments in circulation for every buyer. By November 2023 there were 63. The supply kept coming and the buyers did not. What it also noted were the signs of life: a one-of-one Victor Wembanyama moment sold for $145,000 in 2024, the first six-figure sale since 2021, and Fast Break, a daily fantasy feature, has driven renewed engagement. Sorare, the fantasy card game with partnerships across 180 or more football organisations, followed the same arc at company level: $730m or more raised, a $4.3bn valuation in 2021, revenue of $63.9m in 2023 and $46.5m in 2024.
Why it went wrong, in three faults
The data points at three faults, and they compound.
Unlimited supply. When the issuer can mint more whenever demand rises, every buyer is buying into dilution. Top Shot's moments-per-buyer ratio is the whole story.
Speculative demand. Most buyers in 2021 bought to sell. When prices stopped rising, the reason to hold disappeared with them.
Weak utility. A token you can hold but cannot use has nothing to fall back on when the price falls.
The things that held value had the opposite profile. The Wembanyama moment was one of one. Fast Break gave moments a use every day. PSA's blockchain-integrated certification, launched in 2024, gives a physical card verified provenance, which is provenance doing useful work. Fixed supply, real use, and proof.
We describe what the numbers say. Several of the companies above have partners we work alongside, and we apply the same analysis to our own products, which is the point of publishing it.
What a club should take from it
Four rules, before launching anything digital for supporters.
Fix the supply. Publish the number and do not add to it.
Make it earned. A collectible that arrives because the fan played a prediction round, hit a movement target or bought a shirt has a reason to exist that a collectible bought for resale never does.
Tie it to a use or an outcome. Access, priority, a place on a leaderboard, or a meal delivered because of it.
Never describe it as an investment, and design it so nobody would mistake it for one.
That is how Zenko collectibles work: earned by playing, moving or buying, fixed in supply, and each one tied to a verified outcome. Nobody buys one to flip it, because nobody buys one at all. The buyer profile that is actually growing in sports collectibles, younger and more digital, is covered next Who is buying sports collectibles now, and why it matters for your club, and the loyalty economics behind earned rewards are here loyalty cluster.
FAQ
Are fan tokens worth it? As an investment they have performed badly: CHZ trades about 96% below its 2021 peak. As an engagement tool, Chiliz reports more than $700m delivered to sports partners, so some clubs earned real money in the boom. The durable value has been in products fans use.
What happened to NBA Top Shot? Sales peaked at $224m in February 2021 and fell to about $2.9m a month by February 2023 (Benzinga, citing CryptoSlam). Oversupply, from 13 moments per buyer to 63, was the main cause (The Ringer, February 2025).
Do fan tokens work for football clubs? They generated revenue in 2021 and 2022 and have lost most of their value since. The models that have held up tie digital ownership to gameplay, access or verified provenance.
What is the difference between a fan token and a digital collectible? A fan token is a tradeable currency-style asset issued by or for a club. A digital collectible is a specific, usually fixed-supply item. The distinction that matters is whether it is earned and useful, or bought and speculative.