For hundreds of years, sporting events and famous teams have attracted and united millions of people around the world. That is why many crypto exchanges target sports sponsorships to reach a wider audience.
In 2021-2022, numerous crypto companies and exchanges concluded long-term sponsorship contracts to promote their name through major sports competitions or adorning players' jerseys with their logos. Such cooperation would be considered weird and even exotic five years ago, but today cryptocurrency is gaining traction in the sports market. This was facilitated by the aggressive advertising of top crypto exchanges and the increasing public awareness of digital assets thanks to global media coverage of the price movements of Bitcoin, NFT, and CBDC.
Crypto.com: the sponsor of the UFC, the FIFA World Cup 2022, Formula 1 and PSG
The American CEX Crypto.com has become one of the most active investors in the sports industry. The exchange's sports sponsorship presence is impressive. It includes the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, and Formula 1.
Crypto.com's partnership with the UFC granted the exchange branding rights to fighters' uniforms. In addition, Crypto.com's logo was featured on the Octagon canvas during UFC's broadcasts. This marketing campaign helped popularize the crypto platform brand among the 650 million fans, who watched the battles of the fighting championship. his sponsorship enabled the exchange's brand to automatically "migrate" to sports merchandise, physical and digital content.
The deal with UFC made Crypto.com known to 650 million people
Crypto.com took another powerful marketing step by becoming the official sponsor of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. The agreement signed with FIFA enabled Crypto.com to drive brand exposure at the "game of millions" world forum, which took place in November-December 2022. About 5 billion people from more than 200 countries watched the World Cup final via TV and streaming. This is the biggest sporting event.
With the FIFA World Cup, the crypto exchange became known to residents of almost all countries
Crypto.com signed its first sponsorship agreement of $100 million with Formula 1 in 2021 and became the global partner of the F1 Sprint series. In 2022, the exchange was announced as the official title partner of the Miami Grand Prix in a nine-year deal, with the race to be officially called the Formula 1 Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix.
Crypto.com exchange advertising banners for F1 Miami Grand Prix 2022. Source: Bloomberg
In addition, the crypto exchange decided to strengthen its position in Europe by signing a multi-year partnership agreement with the French Ligue 1 and European football club PSG Football Club. Under the terms of this agreement, Crypto.com released an NFT collection. The collection consists of over 2,600 NFTs, which can be purchased on the company's NFT marketplace.
Binance: the sponsor of S.S. Lazio and Setanta Sports
Crypto exchange Binance has signed a partnership agreement with the leading Italian football club S.S. Lazio on the scheme "2 +1" (an agreement for a two-year initial term with the possibility of an additional year’s extension by mutual agreement). In addition to the exchange's logo on players' jerseys, the platform's advertising is also featured at the Lazio club's stadium. Within this collaboration, Binance issued a fan token and started selling NFT tickets for games.
Binance logo on Lazio jerseys
Apparently, the world's largest CEX decided that 2.5 million SS Lazio fans might hardly boost its audience and signed a sponsorship agreement with media platform Setanta Sports in August 2022.
Binance ad on Setanta Sports channels
WhiteBIT: the sponsor of the Ukrainian national football team and FC Barcelona
Europe's largest CEX WhiteBIT has also realized the potential of the sports industry, as sports fans may potentially expand the user base of the crypto platform.
WhiteBIT signed a sponsorship agreement with the Ukrainian Association of Football (UAF) and became the sponsor of the Ukrainian national football team until 2026. Under the agreement, the exchange's logo will be featured during the team's matches. WhiteBIT and the UAF also intend to arrange different activities and competitions for fans, create interactive zones, lectures, entertainment and educational events at the House of Football in Kyiv.
WhiteBIT is a sponsor of Ukraine's national football team for the next three years
WhiteBIT also signed a sponsorship agreement with the Spanish La Liga team and leading European football club FC Barcelona until 2025. The cooperation involves media presence during games of the men's and women's football teams. However, the deal is not limited to football but covers all Barcelona teams, including basketball, futsal, handball, and roller hockey. WhiteBIT will also collaborate with the Barça Innovation Hub, a professional football research center, and the Barça eSport team.
WhiteBIT CEO Volodymyr Nosov at the head office of FC Barcelona after signing a sponsorship agreement. Source: UNIA
Coinbase: the sponsor of NBA and WNBA
Coinbase decided to pay attention to basketball and become a sponsor of the world's largest and most popular league, the NBA. The multi-year partnership also includes the WNBA women's league, the NBA 2K League and the USA Basketball national team. The collaboration will focus on creating unique content, innovation, events and promotions that will promote the Coinbase experience and information about the digital asset industry to basketball fans.
Coinbase is a sponsor of the two largest basketball leagues in the United States
Final words
The cooperation between crypto exchanges and the sports industry is somewhat similar to co-branding programs, through which there is a mutual exchange and increase in customer bases. Users of exchanges pay attention to the world of sports and join joint promotions, and some even become fans of certain sports teams. On the other hand, sports fans learn about the digital asset industry, the NFT market and join the user base of the crypto exchanges. Such cooperation benefits both parties.
