In the latest SlateCast episode, Fantium CEO and co-founder Jonathan Ludwig joined CryptoSlate Editor-in-Chief Liam “Akiba” Wright and CEO Nate Whitehill to discuss why he returned to building, how Fantium structures athlete financing, and why its broader sports-token vision is focused on utility rather than pure speculation. Across the conversation, Ludwig framed tokenization as a tool for expanding access to capital and participation, provided it is tied to real financial activity and designed with aligned incentives.
Returning to company building
Ludwig said his decision to move from investing back into operating came from a sense that he was not fully applying his strengths. Reflecting on a period of traveling and angel investing, he said, “I felt like something was missing,” adding that he did not want to remain “standing on the sidelines.” He said the turning point came when he realized, “I want to be in the driver’s seat,” and needed to “roll up my sleeves” again. Ludwig added that selling his previous company gave him the freedom to pursue a business he believed could have “a very positive impact on different levels.”
Finance first, speculation second
When asked what should and should not be tokenized, Ludwig drew a clear line between financial assets and purely speculative cultural instruments. He said, “financial assets will be tokenized,” arguing that tokenization can democratize participation for both institutions and retail investors. At the same time, he expressed caution around areas driven mainly by hype, saying he is “a little bit skeptical on cultural things” and is “not very interested” where tokenization is “really about pure speculation.”
That distinction shaped his view of sports tokens as well. Ludwig said tokenization can work in sports when it helps athletes, clubs, and teams raise money while also giving supporters exposure to “the journeys and in the upside, but then also the risk they’re facing.” In his framing, tokenization is most compelling when it creates a real financial relationship rather than a detached trading narrative.
How Fantium’s athlete model works
Discussing Fantium’s core product, Ludwig said the company has built “the number one tennis player financing platform in the industry over the last three and a half years.” He explained that athletes decide what portion of their economics they want to tokenize, but that “99% of the cases are just purely focused on prize money.” According to Ludwig, prize money is preferred because it is “more predictable” and “more transparent,” making execution and payouts easier than structures tied to sponsorship revenue.
He noted that sponsorships and endorsements could theoretically be included if they were auditable, but said those earnings are much harder to forecast than tournament winnings. That practical focus, he suggested, is part of what makes the platform workable today.
Ludwig also emphasized the directness of the model. “There are no intermediaries. It’s like a P2P transaction,” he said. He added that some junior tennis players on the platform “have completely changed their lives,” raising meaningful funding for their careers while also building direct relationships with supporters, including access-driven utilities tied to verified ownership.
Why fan tokens fell short
Ludwig argued that earlier fan-token models faced a structural problem: the underlying clubs or athletes often were not the true creators or owners of the tokens’ upside. “They’re not owning the upside,” he said, and because of that, they were not fully incentivized to integrate the tokens into their ecosystems. His view is that future sports tokens work better when athletes, clubs, and teams own both “the upside” and “the downside,” giving them a reason to fully support utility, monetization, and token-gated access.
$BANK and the poker expansion
Ludwig said Fantium’s broader “Sports Capital Markets” vision expanded with Fanstrike and now with “the first poker on-chain bankroll token,” $BANK. He explained the structure in straightforward terms: “We use that money in order to invest into professional poker players.” Because poker players often sell portions of tournament buy-ins privately to manage variance and bankroll demands, Ludwig said Fantium sees an opportunity to formalize that market on-chain.
He said returns from those investments would be used “to buy back the token, integrate flywheels, and just recycle it into the token.” Over time, the goal is for Fanstrike to let individual poker players launch their own bankroll tokens using $BANK as the ecosystem’s underlying token.
Building where liquidity already exists
On launching in Solana, Ludwig said the decision came down to infrastructure and market activity. “We want to be present where liquidity is at its peak,” he said, calling Solana “the obvious choice.” He also noted that not every crypto-native mechanic translates well to sports, citing bonding curves as one example that did not fit because typical sports fans would be disadvantaged by the speed required to participate effectively.
Closing
Taken together, Ludwig’s comments outlined a sports-token strategy centered on access, financing, and real-world alignment. He argued that adoption will depend on better regulation, improved on-ramps and off-ramps, and products that offer “real utility” to fans, clubs, and athletes alike. For Fantium, that means abstracting crypto where needed, leaning into crypto-native rails where appropriate, and building sports assets that do more than trade.
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