Real-world asset DeFi is stepping onto the pitch by targeting a familiar headache for football clubs: short-term liquidity gaps created by uneven cash flows from media and commercial contracts. The protocol, Decentral, runs on the Chiliz blockchain and channels stablecoin liquidity toward clubs. Tokenizing future club revenues to unlock faster cash is the premise behind the model, which converts receivables like broadcasting rights into onchain collateral. Rather than waiting for payments to arrive, clubs could tap stablecoin funding sooner. The goal is to replace costly bank financing with onchain credit backed by real-world sports assets.
From Broadcast Rights to Onchain Credit
Decentral’s setup is straightforward, but the implications are unusual for club treasurers. Stablecoin pools funding clubs against future receivables sit at the center of the design: investors provide capital to decentralized liquidity pools, while clubs and sports organizations pledge tokenized future revenues, such as media and broadcasting rights, as collateral. An emailed announcement described the mechanism as onchain credit that can arrive faster than traditional routes. That matters because bank financing or specialized funds can be slow, expensive, and burdened with administrative demands, especially when cash needs are immediate for payroll, operations, or short-term obligations.
The first test comes with defined numbers. Decentral will launch an initial $1 million pool denominated in USDC, with a 90-day lock-up and an anticipated 12% APY, according to the announcement. Returns tied to contractual cash flows, not trading activity are meant to differentiate the pool from yield that depends on market risk. When a sponsor, broadcaster, or similar counterparty pays the club, that payment is routed into Decentral’s smart contract. From there, liquidity providers can withdraw principal plus accrued return, with settlement occurring onchain. A spokesperson said the revenue stream pre-exists, and settles onchain.
The pitch for clubs is access. Onchain RWAs reframing sports finance as collateralized credit could help teams that hold valuable long-term contracts but struggle to bridge day-to-day funding needs, particularly outside the most elite clubs. By turning those future payments into real-world assets on-chain, proponents argue for quicker settlement, improved transparency, and global capital access. Tokenization here means representing traditional financial claims as digital tokens that can be traded on blockchains. Chiliz founder Alex Dreyfus called the move SportFi’s shift from concept to utility, beyond fan tokens. Chiliz bridges sporting business models with blockchain technology.
