What happened
One of the lesser-known cryptocurrencies, Chiliz (CRYPTO: CHZ), was having a splendid Sunday. Excitement is clearly growing for Chiliz 2.0, the major upgrade of the blockchain on which the coin sits. Compounding that, investor interest in tokens linked to entertainment properties is growing overall.
These developments helped push Chiliz up by nearly 12% in the past 24 hours as of late Sunday afternoon trading.
So what
What's also helping Chiliz attract the bulls is that it's unique. The coin is the native currency of the blockchain powering Socios.com, a platform that allows people to buy "fan tokens" of their favorite sports teams and even leagues with the Chiliz currency.
Image source: Getty Images.
Socios/Chiliz's development team is based in Europe, so the system's current offerings tend to slant toward that continent's tastes. This chiefly means soccer, and Chiliz offers tokens from some of the top names in the sport, such as London's Arsenal, FC Barcelona, and Inter Milan from Italy. And in a nod to the modern digital age, investors can also plonk down some Chiliz to buy the tokens of standout esports teams.
Chiliz has attracted attention lately for a significant upgrade to its blockchain, tentatively titled -- you guessed it -- Chiliz Chain 2.0. Among other things, the developers are promising that the enhanced chain will allow for the trading of NFTs and other digital assets through the system, plus carry "gas" (i.e., transaction) fees that are at least 500 times cheaper than those of smart contract king Ethereum.
Now what
The sudden and sharp rise of newcomer ApeCoin, a token tied to the super-hot NFT marketplace Bored Ape Yacht Club is also a big impetus behind the rise of Chiliz. Trends are powerful in the cryptocurrency world; investors are eager to put money in crypto assets related to entertainment (and, by extension, sports).
As it's in the news and quite unique, Chiliz has become a prime target for those investors.
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Eric Volkman owns Ethereum. The Motley Fool owns and recommends Ethereum. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
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