“In 2022 and beyond, blockchain narratives will be more about ‘proof of utility’ protocols and platforms. Hopefully, not just about the finance and payments narrative. There is SO much to be invented using this technology.”
Alexandre Dreyfus is the CEO of Chiliz, a crypto and blockchain company, and its Socios platform, which offers ways for fans to interact with sports — in part via team-specific fan tokens traded for Chiliz’s CHZ cryptocurrency. On a broader level, Chiliz aims to bring blockchain technology to the entertainment and sports worlds. Socios touts over 150 partnerships spanning more than 20 countries, spread across numerous sports, including soccer, basketball, football and even gaming. Mediarex Group is the parent company of Socios and Chiliz.
Dreyfus has been in the technology game for quite some time, dating back to the 1990s. His early endeavors include working as the CEO of a website called Webcity, which he also founded. The website focused on digital guides for European cities. His other pursuits include co-founding digital betting and poker platform Winamax.
In the first half of 2021, Chiliz unveiled the intent to grow its operation from Europe to the United States, with $50 million planned as an investment toward growth and its sights set on establishing a New York office.
Following its previous blockchain named Chiliz Chain, Chiliz has worked on a new blockchain focusing on catering to the worlds of entertainment and sports. Called Chiliz Chain 2.0, the network is an Ethereum Virtual Machine-compatible BNB Smart Chain fork — although the network is still in its testnet phase.
Early in 2022, Chiliz posted about its plans for building Chiliz Chain 2.0, noting points of interest such as its relation to BSC and its aim toward scalability. In March, Chiliz unveiled that Chiliz Chain 2.0’s public testnet, called Scoville, was up and running. In the latter half of the year, Dreyfus detailed Chiliz’s 2022 growth, which included setting up additional offices in regions such as London, Miami and Milan and growing its overall staff numbers by 70% — bucking the trend seen in other parts of the crypto industry that saw companies decrease their workforce amid the bear market.
Dreyfus will likely continue moving Chiliz and Socios forward as CEO of the pair of entities. He will also likely continue tending to his sizable Twitter audience as a way of furthering awareness for Chiliz and Socios.
Given that Chiliz showed growth in 2022 amid the cryptocurrency and blockchain industry bear market, the public may look for continued growth from the entity, especially if the sector presses on in a sideways lull or turns course into a bullish market. Additionally, as Chiliz Chain 2.0 travels its path of development, 2023 could yield the launch of the blockchain’s mainnet.
In late 2022, Dreyfus seemingly viewed the bear market as an opportunity and told Cointelegraph that the downward period thinned the herd of projects in the space, leaving folks to focus on the companies’ sports-related fan engagement endeavors. Noting Socios, he pointed toward the aim of flagging the interest of folks outside the crypto space, which may logically continue as a focal point in 2023.
