Authors
Mitch (Treasury and Gaming SubDAO subcommittee member):
- 0xb9F686e51038A6F05Ae7D8d18Ae8F1D4c7f6dcF0
Mike Tun (Product SubDAO subcommittee member, Fanplay contributor):
- 0xCBF4A24b36e124CC277944b5672FD33b3ea7d29f
Gregor Cooney (Fanplay contributor)
Jan Hartmann (Treasury and Gaming SubDAO subcommittee member):
- 0x98b729F0212AC8a4647c70dCFbf982439372Eaf9
Introduction
With Fanplay having signed 2 new games, licensing around the corner and the live product being taken to market later this year, it’s time to discuss the future of the platform, it’s relation to Perion, and how he structure a path forward that balances risk and reward.
Background
Perion began development of the Fanplay wagering platform, previously ZBET, in 2023 as a small side project for developers during some planning downtime. The platform was originally designed as a wagering platform for Zedrun players to engage in parimutuel betting pools while watching horses race live in real-time. The project is akin to a Sportsbook for Web3 games, with features that centre around engaging the viewer and enhancing the base-game experience. The platform falls under the GambleFi banner, a key opportunity segment in the Crypto market.
After performing closed-alpha testing with user focus groups, and performing due diligence on the betting market, two points have become very clear:
- The platform is incredibly engaging for users, the live spectating and visuals bring a new level of engagement that isn’t possible from viewing the base-games alone.
- The gambling space is regulation heavy; it would be a significant risk for the Perion DAO to proceed with Fanplay as a sole, licensed owner-operator of the platform.
As we discussed in our Q2 wrap-up “A new entity will be incorporated with licensed operators, in which Perion will retain equity and receive revenue flow to the treasury. We are not looking to operate a platform that might require a gambling licensing at this stage.”
Proposal
In this proposal we’ll outline a propose a path forward for Fanplay that mitigates the key risks mentioned, while capturing the bulk of the opportunity the platform represents. As such the proposal for the platforms future touches on 4 topics:
- Ownerships rights and IP rights of the platform
- PERC token utility within the platform
- Key stakeholders and staffing
- Boot-strapping operations
It should be highlighted that while the platform holds great opportunity, we should keep in mind that the product is very early in its development life-cycle and requires much development work, marketing and licensing to become a mass-market platform with a large user-base.
- Ownership and IP rights
- A new holding co referred to herein as NewCo to established of which Perion holds 26% equity rights and 1 of 3 board seats as non-executive director, with Perion subcommittee members joining weekly update calls, providing strategic input and being engaged in strategy development and planning.
- Perion’s equity stake to realise capital returns if the platform is sold.
- PERC utility
With the recent example of Rollbit’s incredible success in utilising token mechanics to greatly benefit token momentum, Perion’s core focus in terms of integration with Fanplay should be PERC token utility. This is the biggest opportunity to move the needle for all Perion DAO stakeholders and contributors. Below is the proposed path forward:
- In lieu of a revenue share to Perion, Fanplay is contractually obligated to utilise PERC within the platform. This forms the most important basis of this proposal. The milestone for PERC will be that a feasible integration to the Fanplay platform be completed by Q2 ‘24.
- Perion acknowledges that the integration should be done in a way that does not hinder the the ultimate success of the platform by making the user experience more complicated.
- Perion and remaining stakeholders agree to vote on the final form of integration.
- Early candidates for implementation are staking PERC to access Fanplay VIP features, staking to increase platform winnings and/or rake-back, buyback mechanics, and access to granular metrics and statistics for more informed betting.
- Key stakeholders and staffing
- 2 full-time executive directors to be appointed to manage product and marketing respectively and form the remaining stakeholders in NewCo with equity split evenly at 37% each.
- Mike Tun: Perion Product subcommittee member, previously spearheaded Banxa’s B2C-to-B2B transition, partnering with Binance and other major exchanges, while navigating the globally regulated payment markets. Has lead development of Fanplay product to date.
- Gregor Cooney: Previous CMO at Banxa, extensive consumer and growth marketing experience, pioneering early influencer campaigns and adapting strategies across multiple industries to grow user-bases.
- Both parties above to add $10,000 each to a total of $20,000 to fund platform operations.
- Both parties have extensive experience in the highly regulated crypto-payments sector, which translates very well to the regulated wagering space.
- Bootstrapping operations and development
- Perion DAO to establish a multi-sig and supply a non-interest bearing loan of $350,000 USD loan to bootstrap platform operations over the course of 12 months. Funding to be released in milestone based tranches:
- Q4 ‘23 Tranche: Released immediately to fund licensing and operations:
- Q1 ‘24 Milestone: Second game signed
- Q2 ‘24 Milestone: PERC integration
- Q3 ‘24 Milestone: Third game integration and marketing ramp-up
- Perion to have first security over NewCo and all of its assets in the Fanplay platform, licenses, IP and users if there is a default.
- In the event of a sale at an amount below the loan amount, all proceeds of said sale will be transferred to Perion treasury.
- In the event of a sale above the loan amount, the loan will be first repaid with the balance split among stakeholders as per the proportionate equity holding.
- Once NewCo reaches breakeven for 3 months a reasonable payment mechanism is to be triggered that does not materially impact cash flow of NewCo.
- Both Mike Tun and Gregor Cooney to defer salaries until platform reaches breakeven.
Platform development:
Further development of the platform to add additional features will be carried out by and outsourced development team with the Fanplay stakeholders to ensure the platform is delivered on budget as outlined above. All smart contracts are to be audited in line with best practices.
Additional reading:
Works completed to date by Mike Tun and Gregor Cooney highlight their drive to create a mass market product, and the research and work completed thus far highlights the opportunity behind this drive
Market assessment, strategy and roadmap deck
Summary
To summarise we are at an exciting juncture for Perion, while Perion is maintaining a core focus on the XP product, we in parallel have a fantastic opportunity in Fanplay that will allow us to capture novel use-cases for PERC and secure a key milestone in the path to expanding PERC utility, while not distracting focus from our XP product stream.
Utility is the real benefit we’re seeking for all PERC holders, and is the biggest needle we can move in a positive direction for all DAO members.
Please share your feedback on the proposal below and let us know how you feel. This is ultimately a shared decision.
Reporting requirements & Guardrails:
Fanplay with transition to being managed on the Perion side by the Treasury subcommittee. Weekly updates are to be provided to and reviewed by Treasury Perion subcommittees members.
Updates on the Fanplay platform will be provided to the Perion community via several channels:
- Perion quarterly updates
- Perion social and community channels
- Fanplay social and community channels
Voting timeline
Development:
- 27th Oct 2023: Feedback phase
- 1st Nov 2023: Treasury subcommittee vote, 06:00 UTC
- 4th Nov 2023: Global consensus vote, 06:00 UTC
- 7th Nov 2023: Voting closes, 06:00 UTC
Notes:
- For details on consensus mechanisms and voting see the Perion documentation
- Timeline assumes passing of all vote phases, which is not guaranteed
Conflicts of interest
Not conflicts are present at this time
License
Copyright and related rights waived via Creative Commons CC0
Updates: Reports and transactions
Both stages of voting have passed! View vote