Chiliz - Crypto Academy S5W5 - Homework Post for @imagen

(1) Describe the Proof-of-Authority (PoA) protocol

(2) Who are the partners or sponsors of Socios.com?

(3) Download and install the Socios.com application. Create an account. Explore the application and describe its functions. Show Screenshots (If necessary, use a VPN if the application is not available in your country or locality).

(4) Make a purchase of the CHZ token for a minimum value of 10 USD from your verified account of the exchange of your choice. Describe the process. Indicate the ATH of the coin and when it was reached. Show Screenshots.

(5) Enter the Chiliz Exchange and indicate the prices in CHZ and their equivalent in USD of the following Fan Tokens at the time of writing your assignment: FC Barcelona, ​​Juventus, and Paris Saint-Germain. Show Screenshots.

(6) How is the value of a club or team's Fan Token affected before and after playing a match? If the result is a victory, does its value go up? On the contrary, if it suffers a defeat, does its price go down in the market? Reason for your answer and present at least one recent example, preferably in the week between Sunday 12 and Saturday 18 December.

(7) Conclusions

INTRODUCTION: Good day @imagen and every member of this great community. Welcome to my homework post for season 5 week 5.

(1) Describe the Proof-of-Authority (PoA) protocol

Gavin wood who is the co-founder and ex-CTO of Ethereum proposed the term PoA which is the acronym of Proof of Authority.

The Proof of Authority consensus protocol has a significant difference from other protocols like PoW, PoS, etc. and this is because PoA allows validation within a blockchain by taking advantage of real identities and what this means is that as a guarantee, validators make use of their real identity as well as their reputation willingly in the process of validating.

This mode of validation is different from the Proof of Weight (PoW) but it has some similarities to that of Proof of Stake (PoS). Who are the validators? Validators are a group of accounts or nodes that validate transactions as well as blocks. They are nodes that are permitted to participate in the consensus by validating the transactions and blocks.

PoA is based on a limited number of validators and this characteristic brings about the high scalability of the blockchain as well as the high level of access control which is because only the nodes with permission can participate and this is why private organizations that don’t require participation from general users make use of it as it is less decentralized just like the proof of stake (PoS).

PoA protocols exhibit various types which vary depending on how they work. For instance, Hyperledger and Ripple are both based on PoA but Hyperledger makes use of PBFT while Ripple makes use of the iterative process.

Examples of blockchain that make use of PoA includes VeChain, Decred (DCR), etc. and also, three of Ethereum’s testnets which are Kovan, Goerli, and Rinkeby, make use of Proof of Authority and this is because the PoA consensus ideally provides a controlled environment for testing features before they are been launched on the mainnet.

How does Proof of Authority work

Firstly, validators will be chosen randomly for the system to start working and the voting system of other nodes that were previously or initially authorized does the inclusion and selection of new nodes. This mode eradicates any malicious nodes which might want to disturb the operation of the network.

Also, PoA does not require mining, and each validator is allowed to sign a maximum of one out of a chain of blocks during their validation turn. As said earlier, PoA makes use of identity and reputation and this means that a validator must reveal who he is which will, in turn, bring about the establishment of responsibilities in the blockchain operation and any malicious act by the validator can destroy his or her reputation and it is because of this that validator will ensure transparency, reliability as well as the proper functioning of the blockchain operation.

Condition for the operation of Proof of Authority

Below are some of the operating conditions that are necessary for the mechanism compliance

• Potential validators identities validation: People who want to participate in the network must first verify and also disclose their real identities.

• Validators must put his or her reputation as a guarantee and must be ready to invest money as this will guarantee that the person intends to participate in the network for a long period of term.

• People who want to participate must have the approval of a validator.

Limitation of Proof of Authority

• PoA is majorly criticized as it abandons decentralization and distribution and as it is designed for a distributed centralization in which little amount of people are allowed to participate in the network.

• The publicizing of one’s identities is also a major criticism as this could lead to manipulation by third parties who might take advantage of one’s weakness having known one's identity.

• PoA is objectionable: Objectionable content can be removed and blocked through blacklists which defy the natural un-censorable of blockchain networks.

• Also, it can also happen that a malicious user is made a validator due to the random selection of validator done at first.

• Lastly, another limitation exhibited by the system is that the signatories can bring about new voting proposals within the blocks validated by them and this is because all the votes are to be counted by the nodes before the creation of the list of authorized validating nodes with the sole aim of tracking all the votes over time and controlling them.

(2) Who are the partners or sponsors of Socios.com?

To know those who partner with a business, one must first understand what the business entails, and this is why I will first shed some light on what Socio.com is.

What is Socio.com?

Socio.com platform is the first of its kind mobile application that was created by Chiliz. It is a platform that makes use of Blockchain technology and on which a digital currency known as $CHZ is built. It can also be defined as an engagement platform that deals with the creation of Fan Tokens associated with football clubs or organizations sports industry.

Socio.com platform exhibit the ability to give fans influencing power in his/her club, influence in decision making, and also, once in a lifetime reward. In another word, Socio.com platform provides rooms for fans to take part in the decision-making process of the club they support or the club they would like to influence. This decision can be related to marketing, celebratory hymns, stadium design, T-shirts templates, who wins man of the match, and much more.

Summarily, Socio.com platform gives every fan the to enjoy a closer link with the club one supports or likes and the central belief of transiting passive fans to active fans which is a necessity for the future of sports arouses the idea.

Now, what are Fan tokens? Fan Tokens are collectibles digital assets minted on the Chiliz Blockchain technology. This token grants access to voting right in surveys, access to exclusive promotions, access to AR-enabled features, access to VIP rewards, access to chat forums, access to games, and Contest featured on the platform. Also, Fan Tokens which are regarded as a digital pass to one's have no expiration date.

We should also know that, one (1) Fan Token equals one right to vote in a poll published by the clubs, and the more the Fan Tokens owned, the more influence one will or can exert. For instance, if 10 Fan tokens are owned by an individual, then the individual vote will count 10 times in any poll. Because of this, clubs impose an upper limit on how many Fans tokens an individual can own to curb the decision-making by only an individual or central authority.

Now, let’s cross over to the platform to see all that I have been discussing.

One of the ways to access the platform is to Download the application and another is to make use of the BETA Web App as can be seen in the image below.

How does Socio.com platform works?

The screenshot above basically gives an illustration of how the platform works. Now, let's go through each of the steps.

• Downloading the app: Users can download Socios.com application on both Apple phone and android phone as the app is available on the Android Playstore as well as the Apple store.

• Create Account: Having downloaded the application, the next thing is to create an account.

• Get Chiliz: Having successfully created an account, the next step is to fuel the account with Chiliz($CHZ).

• Exchange to Fan Tokens: Sequel to fueling the account is proper for one to exchange the $CHZ to one's favorite team Fan Tokens.

• Take Decisions: Each one of Socio.com platform partner’s clubs has obliged to an amount of binding and non-binding polls throughout a sports season. A poll is characterized by a minimum of two choices and with this, fans can choose the choice he or she wants. With binding votes, the club is obligated to make sure that the selection that receives the highest no of votes is acted upon. Also, clubs make use of non-binding polls to compare fans’ opinions or thought but the results are not necessarily acted upon. The fact that all these are backed by Blockchain technology makes Socios.com very effective as since blockchain technology which is used by Socios.com exhibits transparency feature so also will all the features exhibited by the platform.

• Unlock Rewards: This step is a plus to the platform users as users who are active on the app and that participate in polls as well as follow the latest news wins or earn some prizes.

Just as I have been saying, the platform gives the ability to BE MORE THAN A FAN as can be seen from the image above

Also, the platform exhibits different sections which are, THE APP, POLLS, REWARDS, FAN TOKENS, LEARN, COMPANY, and which we are going to see what this section entails one after the other.

• THE APP: The app section gives an insight on what the mobile application entails and it is characterized with the Token hunt, Trading, Locker room, Socios united, Badges and Level ups, and the Socios predictor as shown below.

• POLLS: Under this section, we have all the polls created by each club and from which users can access the clubs they like best or support polls. A poll created by Athletico Madrid where fans are given the opportunity to choose the player for an Instagram Takeover/Stadium Tour and 2 vs 2 Challenge is shown below.

In this poll, only users with $ATM tokens can vote or influence the decision.

• REWARDS: This section explains all other profits that can be made by users using the app. Here, we have different categories which are the VIP, Meet and Greet, Events, Collectibles, Socios Merch. Each category is shown in the following images

• FAN TOKENS: This is one of the main features exhibited by the platform. The platform creates a Fan Token for each club that partners with it and under this section, we can see all the FAN TOKENS that are not yet officially launched and those that had been created and officially launched which includes their start date, end date, and also, their opening prices.

Below is the screenshot of the upcoming Fan Tokens

Below is the screenshot of some of the already created Fan Tokens

• LEARN: Under this section, users can find answers to all the questions related to how to use the app and users can get the latest news and announcement.

• COMPANY: Here, users can know more about the company, the platform partners, and also careers.

Having known what Socio.com platform is, I can go ahead to talk about who are the platform partners or sponsors.

Socios.com partners are Football, Gaming, Fighting, Motorsport, Cricket, Basketball, Tennis, American Football, Ice Hockey clubs and in which all these clubs have a Fan token on the platform.

FOOTBALL

Socios.com partners in the Football industry are Barcelona, ​​Juventus, PSG, Club Universidad de Chile young boys , Apollon Limassol, Legia Warszawa, Fortuna Sittard, Goztepe, Alanya Spor, Levante, Argentina national team, Clube Atlético Mineiro, Valencia, Corinthians, Portugal national team, Arsenal, AC Milan, AS Roma, Atletico Madrid, Independiente, Galatasaray, Istanbul Basaksehir, Manchester city, Novara Calcio, Sint-Truidense VV, Trabzonspor, Inter Milan, GNK Dinamo Zagreb, Everton, Leeds United, Racing Club de Avellaneda, Bologna, Gazisehir Gaziantep, Napoli, New England, Santos laguna, Atlas, Monaco, Pohang united, Club Universidad de Chile young boys , Apollon Limassol, Legia Warszawa, Fortuna Sittard, Goztepe, Steelers, Flamengo, Samsun Spor, Sao Paolo, Italy national team, Palmeiras, Crystal palace, and Aston villa club as shown in the images below.

GAMING

Socios.com partners in the Gaming industry are Natus Vincere, Team Heretics Team, OG, Team Vitality, Team Endpoint as shown in the image below.

FIGHTING

Socios.com partners in the Fighting industry are Professional Fighters League championship and Ultimate fighting championship as shown in the image below.

MOTORSPORT

Socios.com partners in the Motorsport industry are Aston Martin Cognizant F1 Team, Roush Fenway Racing Team, and Alfa Romeo Racing as shown in the image below

CRICKET

Socios.com partners in the Cricket industry are Royal Challengers Bangalore, Punjab Kings, Kolkata Knight Riders, and Caribbean Premier League championship as shown in the image below.

BASKETBALL

Socios.com partners in the Basketball industry are Philadelphia 76ers, Boston Celtics, Cleveland Cavaliers, Sacramento Kings, Orlando Magic, Los Angeles Clippers, Miami Heat, San Antonio Spurs, Milwaukee Bucks, Indiana Pacers, Brooklyn Nets, Utah Jazz, Phoenix Suns, Atlanta Hawks, Houston Rockets, Chicago Bulls, Minnesota Timberwolves, Detroit Pistons, Golden State Warriors, Washington Wizards, Oklahoma City Thunder, Charlotte Hornets, Memphis Grizzlies, and Los Angeles Lakers as shown in the image below

TENNIS

Socios.com's partner in the Tennis industry is Davis Cup tennis tournament as shown in the image below.

AMERICN FOOTBALL

Socios.com's partner in the American football industry is New England Patriot club as shown in the image below.

ICE HOCKEY

Socios.com partners in the Ice hockey industry are Canucks Mlb Teams, DallasStars, NHL Discover, Columbus Blue Jackets, Detroit Red Wings, Florida Panthers, Tampa Bay Lightning, Washington Capitals, and New York Islanders as shown in the image below.

(3) Download and install the Socios.com application. Create an account. Explore the application and describe its functions. Show Screenshots (If necessary, use a VPN if the application is not available in your country or locality).

Downloading and installing the Socios.com application

The following are the procedures I took to download and install the Socios application

• I go to Socios.com by inputting the web address in my google chrome browser search box and then click on Enter as shown below.

• I clicked on Get the app which redirected me to the Google Playstore for the downloading of the app.

• Having been completely redirected to Google Playstore, I clicked on Install to begin downloading.

Creating an account

On successful installation or downloading of the app, I opened the app and I saw a welcome message.

• To create an account, a few details of mine are required, and as shown in the screenshot above, I clicked on Get Started to begin the registration process.

• Having clicked on Get started the next step is to select the country I reside in number code and input my contact number which was used to confirm the authenticity of my device.
  Having done this successfully, I clicked on Send Verification Code and on getting the code, I inputted it in the box given as shown below.

• The next step is to Create a username, Enter my email, and check the Agree check box.
  Checking on the agree check box means I have read and I am agreeing to the platform Terms and Conditions and having done all this, I clicked on Register Now as shown below.

• On clicking on Register Now, a verification message with a verify link was sent to my email, and on clicking on Verify now, it redirected me back to my browser where I received a congratulations message that my email has been successfully verified.

• Also, I received a message on my email getting me aware that my account has been upgraded and that I am currently on Level 1 of the platform User Verification Process as can be seen below.

• On opening the installed application back, I am to complete 4 simple steps which I did by clicking on Next, and then, I clicked on Finish having completed the 4 simple steps.

• Having successfully installed and created an account, a message that I have been awarded 1 $SSU popped up.

Explore the application and describe its functions. Show Screenshots

On successful login, we can see that on the homepage we have different sections as can be seen in the screenshot below and we will explore through all these sections.

PROFILE SECTION: The profile section is characterized by the Profile details, Settings, Security, verify your identities, Fan rewards, Digital Collectible, invite friends, Contact us, More, and the Logout button. Here, users can edit their profile, modify their settings as it best suit them, access the verification tab, get their invitation link and they can also log out of the platform.

$CHZ SECTION:In this section, fans can buy $CHZ using either Visa, MasterCard, or other modes of payment.

MARKET: The act of exchanging occurs in this section. The exchange from $CHZ to Fan Tokens or One Fan Token to another Fan Token is done in the market section.

In the market section, on clicking on ACM/CHZ, there was a pop-up to buy or sell ACM as shown below.

VOTE: In this section, Fans can access polls created by the sports industry and can influence these polls by voting.

TOKENS OFFERING AND FAN TOKENS: This is also a section, where some fan tokens are listed and also, tokens offered.

CATEGORIES: Under this section, we have different categories of sport that are in partnership with Socio.com platform. we have Football, Gaming, MMA, Motorsport, etc.

• FOOTBALL: This category encompasses all the football clubs that are in partnership with socio.com.

• GAMING: This category encompasses all the gaming clubs that are in partnership with Socio.com.

• MMA: This category encompasses all the Mixed Martial art clubs that are in partnership with Socio.com.

• MOTORSPORT: This category encompasses all the motorsport clubs that are in partnership with Socio.com.

• BASKETBALL: This category encompasses all the basketball clubs that are in partnership with Socio.com.

• CRICKET: This category encompasses all the cricket clubs that are in partnership with Socio.com.

• SOCIOS UNITED: The Socios United $SSU token enables fans to vote in polls that will guide the development of new functions and features on the Socios.com platform

• LOCKER ROOM: Holders of Locker Room Tokens are in for all the benefits of being a Fan Token holder which includes the right to influence one's Club, also, to earn cool rewards and merchandise, and to get access to new features such as Chat and Games.

(4) Make a purchase of the CHZ token for a minimum value of 10 USD from your verified account of the exchange of your choice. Describe the process. Indicate the ATH of the coin and when it was reached. Show Screenshots.

Purchase CHZ token for a minimum value of 10 USD from your verified account of the exchange

I will be purchasing 16.5477 USD worth of CHZ using Binance exchange and below are the steps I took to perform this transaction.

• I clicked on Trades having opened my verified Binance application successfully as shown in the image on the left-hand side below.

• I inputted CHZ in the search button and I clicked on CHZ/USDT in the dropdown as shown on the right-hand side below.

• I selected the market order as shown in the image on the left-hand side below.

• I inputted the amount (in USD) I will be using in purchasing CHZ as shown in the image on the right-hand side below

• I clicked on BUY CHZ as can be seen in the image on the left-hand side below.

• From the image on the right-hand side below, we can see that the order got filled immediately as we can see the success message and this is because I placed a market order i.e., buying CHZ at the market price

What was Chiliz (CHZ) coin ATH and when was it reached?

According to Coingecko, Chiliz token (CHZ) All-time high (ATH) is 0.878633 USD and this All-Time High was reached on March 13, 2021, 9 months ago. As of the time of doing this homework, CHZ price has undergone 66.8% decrease as compared to the ATH as can be seen in the image below.

(5) Enter the Chiliz Exchange and indicate the prices in CHZ and their equivalent in USD of the following Fan Tokens at the time of writing your assignment: FC Barcelona, ​​Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain. Show Screenshots.

To know the price of FC Barcelona, ​​Juventus, and Paris Saint-Germain Fan Tokens, I go to Chiliz exchange

FC Barcelona Fan token

As of the time of doing this assignment, 1 FC Barcelona token (BAR) is equal to 31.85 CHZ and its equivalent in USD is 8.75 USD as can be seen in the image below.

Juventus Fan token

As of the time of doing this assignment, 1 Juventus token (JUV) is equal to 30.13 CHZ and its equivalent in USD is 8.28 USD as can be seen in the image below.

Paris saint german Fan token

As at the time of doing this assignment, 1 Paris saint german token (PSG) is equal to 52.37 CHZ and its equivalent in USD is 14.39 USD as can be seen in the image below.

Summarily,

Fan Tokens	Amount of token	Value in CHZ	Value in USD
BAR	1	31.85	8.75
JUV	1	30.13	8.28
PSG	1	52.37	14.39

(6.) How is the value of a club or team's Fan Token affected before and after playing a match? If the result is a victory, does its value go up? On the contrary, if it suffers a defeat, does its price go down in the market? Reason for your answer and present at least one recent example, preferably in the week between Sunday 12 and Saturday 18 December.

I will be analyzing 4 different Fan Token to draw my conclusion.

• AS Roma Fan Token (ASR): Prequel to the match between AS Roma and Spezia in which AS Roma won with a goal of 2 to 0, AS Roma Fan token was undergoing a bearish trend (as depicted with the yellow arrow in the image below) and sequel to the match, the token tries to undergo a reversal in trend (as depicted with the red arrow in the image below) but later on, it continues the bearish trend (as depicted with the green arrow in the image below) as shown below.

• FC Barcelona Fan Token (BAR): Prequel to the match between FC Barcelona and Osasuna in which FC Barcelona drew with a goal of 2 to 2, FC Barcelona token price has been making higher highs and higher lows but after the match, the token begins to make lower highs and lower lows as shown in the image below.

• Manchester city Fan Token (CITY): Prequel to the match between Manchester City and Aston Villa in which Manchester city won with a goal of 7 to 0, Manchester city Fan token has been undergoing a bearish trend and after the match, the token continues to undergo the bearish trend and this means that, although they won with a goal of 7 to 0, it does not bring about a reversal in the trend.

Also, prequel to this same match, Leeds United Fan token (LUFC) ranges between 4.10 and 4.18 USD but after losing the match, the token begins to undergo a bullish trend as can be seen in the images below.

• Aston Villa Fan Token (AVL): Prequel to the match between Aston Villa and Norwich City in which Aston villa won with a goal of 2 to 0, Aston villa Fan token was undergoing a bearish trend and which ranges between 1.31 and 1.20 USD but after the match, the token begins to undergo bullish trend as can be shown below

We can see that in most of the cases mentioned above, winning or losing does not have significant effects on the price of the Fan token as can be seen in the case of BAR, ASR, CITY tokens and looking at their market cap dominance we can say that these Fan Tokens rest solely on the general price movement of cryptocurrencies.

CONCLUSION

Proof of Authority is a type of consensus mechanism that is majorly used by private organizations and this is because it is closed in nature and doesn't require participation from general users. Also, PoA is permissioned and this means it is characterized with mining though, Validators can deploy redundancy by running more than one node under the same identity.

PoA is a type of consensus mechanism that doesn't require intensive resources but requires validators to protect the integrity of their nodes and with this, we can say that the proper functioning, transparency, reliability exhibited by a network that makes use of PoA is due to the user identity and reputation that is at stake

Socios.com platform has closed reduces the gap between clubs and their fans especially those that are located in a distant place from where the club is located. The platform has given unto fans the opportunity to be able to determine or influence or have a say in the club's decision making which is good for all passionate and emotional sports fans.