SportsBlock Development Update — New Features, Performance Upgrades & Token Burns

We've been heads down building over the past few weeks and we're excited to share what's new on SportsBlock. This update covers some major new features, significant performance improvements under the hood, and an important change to MEDALS tokenomics that will directly benefit every token holder.

Let's get into it.

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New Feature: Predictions

Predictions are here — and they bring real stakes to your sports knowledge. So far there has been 98 predictions staked totaling just over 3000 MEDALS.

Create a prediction on any upcoming match or sporting event, set 2-4 possible outcomes, and back your pick with MEDALS. Other users stake on their preferred outcome before the prediction locks at kick-off. If you called it right, you earn a share of the total pool proportional to your stake.

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Here's how it works:

• Minimum stake of 10 MEDALS, maximum 10,000 MEDALS per prediction
• Creators must put skin in the game with a minimum 25 MEDALS stake
• Predictions lock automatically at the scheduled fixture time
• Payouts are calculated and distributed on-chain after settlement

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This isn't just for fun — it's a genuine test of your sports knowledge with real rewards on the line. More on the settlement process below.

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New Feature: Approval Panel

With real tokens at stake in Predictions, we needed a robust settlement system that prevents any single point of failure or manipulation. That's why we've built a two-admin approval panel for all settlements.

Here's how the process works:

1. Proposal — One admin reviews the result and proposes a settlement (selecting the winning outcome) or a void (if something went wrong)
2. Approval — A different admin must independently verify and approve the proposal. No admin can approve their own proposal.
3. Execution — Once approved, payouts are calculated and broadcast on-chain automatically

If the second admin disagrees, they can reject the proposal and send it back for review. This dual-approval system ensures transparency and accountability on every single prediction and contest settlement.

The current admin panel includes @blanchy, @niallon11, @talesfrmthecrypt, @bozz and @fullcoverbetting — all long-standing, trusted members of the Hive community that don't have a penchant for buying Hive rubber bracelets.

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Match Threads

So the thinking behind this is to have a thread for live matches. A toast notification appears on the site which tells you a match is about to start. You go into match threads and you can talk about the match live without the mix of sports on sportsbites. A container all to yourselves. In the medium term when @blanchy gets the finger out , the idea is to have the match stats and live action coming straight to the live feed. We could even have some Hive sports fans on for a watch along which may be quite amusing.

New Feature: Contests

Alongside Predictions, we're rolling out Contests — structured fantasy-style competitions where users compete for prize pools.

Contest types include World Cup Fantasy, Golf Fantasy, and Last Man Standing formats. Entry fees range from 10 to 100,000 MEDALS depending on the contest, and prize pools are distributed across the top finishers: 60% to first place, 25% to second, and 15% to third.

Contests can be fee-funded (prize pool built from entry fees) or fixed-pool (sponsored by SportsBlock with a set prize amount). Either way, there's real value on the table for those who know their sport.

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Sportsbites Getting Even Better

Sportsbites — our 280-character hot takes feature — continue to grow as one of the most popular ways to engage on SportsBlock. Quick match reactions, hot takes, and predictions all live on-chain with full ownership and reward eligibility.

We've been refining the Sportsbites experience with smoother publishing flows and better integration across the platform. Every Sportsbite is published directly to the Hive blockchain in the hive-115814 community in daily containers, so your takes are permanent and truly yours.We turned the rewards off on the parent container also for this short form content as we think this is fair for the Hive blockchain. Tipping MEDALS has become popular on the short form content because it is instant. We did not expect this to become so popular so fast so we are looking at doing more with this feature. Football and cricket have been the most popular bites so far so we are looking to spread our wings and have more sports fans draft up bites around what is going on in their sport.

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MEDALS Token Burns — Deflationary By Design

This is the big one for token holders.

All platform fees from Predictions are permanently burned.

When a prediction settles, a 10% platform fee is taken from the total pool before payouts are distributed. That 10% is sent directly to the null account on Hive-Engine — permanently removing those tokens from circulation. They're gone forever. No treasury, no redistribution, no recycling. Pure burn.

Let's put that into perspective with an example:

A prediction pool of 50,000 MEDALS settles → 5,000 MEDALS are burned → 45,000 MEDALS distributed to winners

As prediction volume grows, so does the burn rate. Every settled prediction reduces the total circulating supply of MEDALS, creating consistent deflationary pressure on the token.

With a hard-capped max supply of 500,000,000 MEDALS and multiple burn mechanisms in play, the long-term tokenomics are designed to reward holders and active participants.

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MEDALS STAKING REWARDS

This started dropping down last week and will happen every Sunday night at midnight GMT. There will be a snapshot of all staked MEDALS holders and MEDAL's will be awarded per staker, per week: staked_amount × 0.1 / 52.
Example: If someone stakes 10,000 MEDALS, they earn 10,000 × 0.1 / 52 = ~19.231 MEDALS/week.

Performance Upgrades

Behind the scenes, we've been making significant performance improvements across the platform:

• Faster page loads — Optimised data fetching and caching strategies across all major routes
• Improved API response times — Hive node calls now use intelligent retry logic with fallback nodes for reliability
• Better mobile experience — Reduced bundle sizes and smoother transitions on mobile devices
• Image optimisation — Automatic WebP/AVIF conversion and proxy-based image loading for faster rendering
• Reduced server load — Smarter caching with Upstash Redis to reduce redundant blockchain queries

The result is a noticeably snappier experience whether you're browsing posts, dropping Sportsbites, or checking your prediction stakes.

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SEO Improvements

We want SportsBlock content to be discoverable beyond the Hive ecosystem, so we've invested heavily in SEO:

• Dynamic sitemap — All posts, user profiles, and community pages are now properly indexed
• Structured data — BlogPosting and Organisation schema markup for richer search engine results
• Improved metadata — Every page now has proper Open Graph tags, Twitter cards, and meta descriptions
• Faster indexing — Google Search Console integration for proactive crawl requests

The goal is simple: when someone searches for sports content on the blockchain, SportsBlock should be the first result they find. We're building for long-term organic discovery alongside the Hive ecosystem.

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What's Next

We're just getting started. Once we are finished adding features to the website. The roadmap ahead includes more contest types, commencing our curation rewards, community-driven prediction markets, and continued platform refinements based on your feedback. The dashboard is being worked on and users will soon be awarded MEDALs for different metrics. For example we plan to award users with the most external readership on a weekly basis and also awarding the most engaged users in our community.

We are still asking the users have @sportsblock as a 5% beneficiary on all posts as a pre requisite for earning the MEDALS token during curation. This will help grow Sportsblock. You get out what you put in. It is as simple as that.

If you haven't visited yet, head over to sportsblock.app and check out the new features. If you're already a member, get involved — create a prediction, drop a Sportsbite, or stake some MEDALS and start earning.

Your sports knowledge has real value here.

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Useful Links:

• 🌐 Website: sportsblock.app
• 🐦 X (Twitter): @sportsblockinfo
• 💬 Discord: Join our Discord
• ⛓️ Hive Community: hive-115814
• 🥇 MEDALS on Tribaldex: Trade MEDALS

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