Blockchain provider for the sports and entertainment industry Chiliz filed a commercial injunction against the Argentina Football Association (AFA) for a “flagrant breach of contract”.
Stunned by the Announcement
The legal action followed as a response to a new agreement between the AFA and Binance announced in mid-week which named the cryptocurrency exchange platform the global main sponsor of Argentina’s national soccer teams and gave it the naming rights to top-flight Primera Division, as well as the right to deliver the official fan token of the AFA.
“We are stunned by the statement made public today by AFA announcing an agreement to grant the rights that legally correspond to us, to another provider. We will do everything in our power to avoid it and to protect the rights of the fans who acquired the ARG fan tokens,” Chiliz responded in a statement to Crypto Noticias at the time of the new AFA deal announcement.
Chiliz is the parent company of Socios.com, a digital crypto wallet and trading exchange app offering fan tokens to sports fans of some of the biggest soccer clubs worldwide. Under the terms of a deal between Socios.com and the AFA signed in July last year, the dapp acquired the naming rights of the top-flight soccer division in the country which was renamed to Torneo Socios.com.
Chiliz also acquired the right to launch the official token of Argentina soccer and subsequently launched on the Socios.com platform the $ARG fan token and the AFA agreed to recognize the token as the “digital asset” that provides exclusive rights of its holders to rewards, voting rights and other promotions.
Prohibitory Injunction Issued
In a corporate statement following the request for an injunction, Chiliz outlined its request was granted by Argentina’s National Commercial Tribunal, which ordered the AFA to “recognize the agreement signed with Socios.com, including the Fan Token.”
In the request, Chiliz also demanded that AFA safeguard the agreement with Socios.com by embracing the $ARG fan token and promoting it through the Argentina national soccer team. The blockchain provider also insisted the association “refrain from performing any action, carry out any proceedings, or apply any measure that would hamper the exercise of Socios’ exclusive rights.”
“We welcome this decision from an independent justice system, which recognizes that our contracts remain in full effect, and we will continue to actively collaborate with Argentina’s justice system to defend the rights of $ARG Fan Token holders,” the corporate statement issued by Chiliz concluded.