A couple of weeks ago Socios.com US released a blog post however I did not see it until they sent out the link to the post in an email this morning. Since I was born, raised, and still lived in the U.S. when Socios initially launched it was not something that I was super devoted to as they focused on soccer teams in Europe before they began to expand into other markets. Luckily though I did all of the hunts that I could back at the beginning which allowed me to acquire quite a bag of CHZ tokens reaching over 2,000 at one point.
One of the biggest issues for me though was that this was a beta version and it honestly did not always work and bugs could take a while for them to address. As they grew though this was quickly addressed and they started adding partners across the sports and geographic spectrum. This is where being in the US naturally ended up biting me in the butt as they had to freeze a lot of functions for the app for US users due to regulatory uncertainty. Finally last year they launched a version of the US app which was the same as the international app except for the frozen features.
When they launched this app though they never really addressed it and when you tried to do things that were frozen it would say that a "New App is Coming for US Users" even though you were in the US app. Now that they have announced that the Socios.com US app is now live they have also announced/released what changes US-based users can expect. Overall I would say it is not the worst result in the world but there are some disappointing things that are going to occur for long-time users like myself. That being said here is what will not change, will change, and US app features.
Will Not Change
The things that are not going to change are some of the basic common sense things. For example, your username, Fan Token amounts, SSU balance, Digital Collectible holdings (NFTs), and profile details including your KYC level will remain the same. Something that they DO NOT address is what will happen to your CHZ holdings. Since this is not mentioned and based on things that they told us about the US app last year I would highly suggest moving your CHZ off the platform until everything is announced and the migration is over. The last thing I think anyone wants is to lose their CHZ!
Will Change
Some of what is going to change make sense while other things kind of blow my mind especially since the app has been live for as long as it has been. By far the biggest thing that is changing is your Wallet address! Your old wallet address is NO LONGER ACTIVE! Do not try to send any Fan Tokens or Chiliz to your address as they will be lost! Your transaction history from the international app will also not be available after the USA App migration.
The two things that really confuse me that they are going to be lost are your Experience Points (XP) levels, leaderboard positions, milestones, and trophies will reset as part of the migration process. This is a huge bummer as I have milestones/trophies dating back to the World Cup that I am going to lose. You will also have to reconfigure your Touch ID and/or Face Recognition for the new app as well but again if you are like me and have already moved over does this mean that it is going to reset again?
US App Features and... Possible Issues
Let's start with the great things that are going to happen. Finally, after months of being unable to users will be able to top up their Chiliz and be able to purchase Fan Tokens! We will also finally have the values displayed in USD instead of EUR which will just be easier for my brain to follow along with.
Now there is when we start running into issues with the transition... we will still be able to participate in the Token Hunts but it seems that we will only be able to earn SSU Loyalty Tokens and Fan Tokens.... finding CHZ seems to be over for US users. We will also be able to rejoin the rankings on all team leaderboards, earn XP, and badges but not any that are related to CHZ. Fan Tokens are also in for kinda sorta big change. For one Fan Token holders will not be able to transfer Fan Token in or out of the US app so if you do not want to hold them you have to sell them. When buying a Fan Token they will be locked for seven days before you can trade them. You can still vote but you cannot sell. Then we have the limits... Users will only be able to hold up to 100 Fan Tokens for each team. If you already have more than 100 for the team you are not forced to sell but you cannot purchase anymore. There will also be daily and monthly limits for top-ups ($250 daily and $2,000 monthly) and daily limits for withdrawal ($250) purchasing ($250) and selling ($250). Given the price of CHZ and the state of the market, these are not issues right now but moving forward, especially if Chiliz returns to the levels it hovered at for a long time of ~$0.50 which would cause these lower thresholds to easily be hit.
Final Thoughts
Compared to what I was scared US users were going to get this is a fantastic break for users. That being said in several instances it still falls short of what people would like and enjoy particularly when it comes to the trophies and token hunts. It might be a long shot right now but hopefully, there will be more regulatory clarity moving forward that will allow Socios to roll out these features that international users are able to experience to a much greater extent than US users.
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