Bitcoin Daily: Chiliz Blockchain Firm Creates Sports-Focused Crypto Exchange; Proposed Hawaii Legislation Would Allow Banks To Hold Digital Currencies

Chiliz, a blockchain venture based in Malta, is introducing a crypto exchange with entertainment and sports tokens, according to Cointelegraph. The new exchange will be at Chiliz.net, and will launch in February after Fan Token Offerings for the Socios.com — a fan-voting platform powered by Chiliz tokens (CHZ) — partner teams begins.

Customers can trade tokens for soccer teams like Paris Saint-Germain​, Atlético de Madrid​, ​A.S. Roma, ​Galatasaray​, ​West Ham United and Juventus​. Support for OG Esports’ fan token, OG, will be added in March.

Chiliz partnered with Binance Chain in May of last year. Chiliz and Socios.com CEO Alexandre Dreyfus said that sports fans make up an audience of billions, and provide a perfect audience for bringing blockchain to mainstream visibility.

“This is the usage of blockchain for something that is not payments, and that was conceived exclusively because of blockchain. We are not replacing something that was existing before. We have created a new usage and innovation (fan token, influence, etc. …), and we use blockchain to support it,” Dreyfus said.

In other bitcoin news, a proposed bill in Hawaii would let banks hold onto crypto for customers, according to CoinDesk. The bill was introduced on Jan. 18, and would allow banks in Hawaii to hold onto digital securities, virtual currencies, digital consumer assets and open blockchain tokens. It was sponsored by State Senators Gil Riviere, Sharon Moriwaki, Stanley Chang, Les Ihara and Kurt Fevella.

The bill would essentially let Hawaiian banks offer customers not only general banking services, but digital banking as well. According to the language of the bill, it would allow for a low-cost, pro-consumer system that would go into effect about 60 days after the bill passed. Custodians would have to agree on the “source code version” utilized by banks, and ambiguities in the statute would be “resolved in favor of the customers.”