Crypto exchanges to toss up a Hail Mary at Super Bowl 2022

December 23, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Bowl

Crypto.com and FTX scored ad spaces for their brands at the biggest sports event of next year: the Super Bowl.

Crypto exchange platforms Crypto.com and FTX will run advertising commercials during Super Bowl LVI on Feb. 13. Both exchanges have been working tirelessly to establish their brands and penetrate the United States market.

Super Bowl advertisements are known to be very costly, with rates going above $5 million for just 30 seconds. Some sponsors are even willing to pay up to a record high of $6.5 million for the same air time.

Recently, Crypto.com also announced a partnership with Angel City Football Club, a soccer team that’s expected to play in 2022. Aside from this, the exchange’s efforts include securing naming rights for the Staples Center in Los Angeles. The exchange purchased naming rights for $700 million over 20 years. With this, the Staples Center will be renamed to the Crypto.com Arena this December.

In an official announcement, Crypto.com co-founder and CEO Kris Marszalek said that the company is using its platform “in new and creative ways so that cryptocurrency can power the future of world-class sports, entertainment, and technology.”

Meanwhile, FTX also dedicates a large sum of its advertising budget to bolstering brand recognition in the United States. In October, the exchange confirmed that it would be running an ad in the upcoming Super Bowl. The exchange also got Tom Brady and Gisele Bündchen to star in a $20-million ad campaign.

Earlier this year, FTX also secured naming rights for a U.S. stadium. The exchange reportedly paid $135 million for a 19-year contract to rename the Miami Heat’s home arena into the FTX Arena.

Back in 2020, blockchain penetrated the Super Bowl through nonfungible tokens (NFT). Nonprofit trade group Avocados from Mexico inserted NFTs in its advertising campaign. With this, users can collect digital avocados and are able to win blockchain-based rewards.

According to Ivonne Kinser, head of digital marketing at Avocados From Mexico, the results were overwhelmingly positive. Kinser said they delivered “3.2 billion social impressions” through the ad campaign.

Crypto.com partners with Los Angeles’ Angel City Football Club

December 21, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Business

The exchange said the partnership was aimed at encouraging “financial education, independence and financial empowerment” for women.

Cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com has inked another deal to expand its brand recognition in the United States with the professional women’s sports team Angel City Football Club.

In a Tuesday announcement, Crypto.com said it had partnered with the Los Angeles soccer team in an effort to increase the awareness of and access to crypto, blockchain and Web 3.0 among Angelenos, soccer fans and the athletes themselves. The exchange said it plans to continue looking for “unique and impactful ways” to invest in L.A., with the partnership aimed at encouraging “financial education, independence and financial empowerment” for women.

“Given the speed with which Web 3.0 and cryptocurrency is changing our world, we want to ensure that women are being brought along on the journey as investors and creators,” said Angel City Football Club co-founder and president Julie Uhrman. “We are excited to work with [Crypto.com] to educate our community and players on crypto and allow our players to use the power of NFTs to connect with and create a deeper relationship with their fans.”

The partnership is the crypto exchange’s latest expansion into Los Angeles. Crypto.com announced in November that it had secured the naming rights to the city’s multi-purpose Staples Center for 20 years in a $700 million deal. The venue — expected to officially change names on Saturday — has been home to the NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers and Los Angeles Lakers, as well as the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings and the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks.

I took some photos around Staples Center before the final changes to becoming Crypto. The iconic Staples Center letters are gone, and blue is the new theme. We're in the final stages of the conversion.https://t.co/wLEgslWpDR
— Farbod Esnaashari (@Farbod_E) December 21, 2021

As it grows, Crypto.com has been partnering with high-profile individuals and companies to promote cryptocurrencies and blockchain. In July, the company signed a $175-million sponsorship agreement with the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Actor Matt Damon also appeared in ads released around the world beginning in October.

Fan token market cap surged over 60% since June: Data

December 11, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

All fan tokens across Socios and Chiliz’s fan token ecosystem have sold for $250 million so far, founder and CEO said.

The fan token market has been growing in value this year, surging around $157 million in terms of total market capitalization since June.

According to data from major fan token website FanMarketCap, the market cap of all fan tokens is estimated to amount to slightly over $417 million at the time of writing. This is almost 60.4% up from the overall value of $260 million recorded in mid-June 2021, as Cointelegraph previously reported.

The fan token market’s daily trading volume amounts to $270.2 million at publishing time.

According to FanTokenStats, some of the most-valued fan tokens include Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) and Manchester City (CITY) issued by major fan token provider Socios and based on the Chiliz blockchain infrastructure. While PSG's market capitalization is valued at just over $49 million, CITY’s market cap is at $38 million.

Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, is also a major fan token player, launching its own fan token platform in October 2021. Running on Binance’s token launch platform Binance Launchpad, the Lazio Fan Token (LAZIO) is among the biggest fan tokens with a market cap of roughly $51 million, according to FanTokenStats.

Socios and Chiliz founder and CEO Alexandre Dreyfus told Cointelegraph that all fan tokens across Socios and Chiliz’s fan token ecosystem have sold for $250 million so far. He predicted that the market size of fan tokens and social tokens will surge up to $10 billion in the next five years.

Fan tokens are a form of digital currency providing holders with access to a number of fan-related membership perks including voting on club decisions, merchandise designs, rewards as well as other fan engagement experiences within sports clubs and music fan clubs.

Dreyfus emphasized that fan tokens are not cryptocurrencies but rather digital assets: “You cannot spend fan tokens to buy something, you can own fan tokens to get fan benefits.” He still noted that fan tokens’ use cases are different for fans and traders. “Fans will hold, traders will trade,” Dreyfus said.

According to the CEO, sources like CoinMarketCap (CMC) and CoinGecko do not correctly reflect the initial price of Socios-issued fan tokens, which is usually around $2 per token. As such, CITY was originally priced at $2 per token instead of $10, which is according to CMC and CoinGecko.

“You can't see it on CoinMarketCap,” Dreyfus noted, adding that sources like CMC and CoinGecko don’t get fan token offering price but rather capture the listing price only. “Fan tokens are first pre-sold at fixed price during a flash sale before being listed,” he added.

DraftKings Marketplace plans to launch gamified NFT collection next NFL season

December 7, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Betting

DraftKings has partnered with the NFL Players Association to expand the offerings of its marketplace via gamified NFL player NFTs.

The Nation Football League Players Association, or NFLPA, in collaboration with sports betting operator DraftKings Inc., announced the launch of a gamified nonfungible token, or NFT, collection to drop on DraftKings Marketplace during the 2022-2023 NFL season. Starting next year, fans will be able to play NFT-based games featuring their favorite NFL Players, according to the company.

OneTeam, the official media business partner of the NFLPA, helped facilitate the deal with DraftKings, giving them the necessary licensing rights to use the name, image and likeness for active NFL players.

In a statement shared on the DraftKings website, Beth Beiriger, SVP of product operations for DraftKings Marketplace said, “The future of fandom is unfolding in front of us, and few organizations beyond DraftKings are as equipped to capitalize on the increasing intersection between sports and NFTs that will be cornerstones of engagement and entertainment within Web3.”

The DraftKings Marketplace went live this past August with its inaugural Tom Brady NFT collection in partnership with the NFT platform co-founded by Brady himself called Autograph. Besides NFTs, Brady further displayed his backing of crypto by giving a fan 1 BTC for his 600th touchdown pass.

The announcement suggested that DraftKings’ upcoming NFTs will enable customers to buy and sell collectibles via the Polygon network, and use them within games against other players. The goal of the DraftKings’ NFT experience is to “create authentic connections for avid fans,” according to Sean C. Sansiveri, General Counsel and Head of Business Affairs at NFL Players Inc., the marketing and licensing arm of the NFLPA.

Last month the NFL also entered a collaboration with Ticketmaster to tie NFT collectibles to select game tickets when purchased, emphasizing the pro sports league’s broad adoption of blockchain technology.

Spanish regulator raises alarm on Binance promo by soccer star Iniesta

November 25, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

A Binance promotion post by soccer legend Andres Iniesta has so far amassed over 270,000 likes on Instagram.

A major financial regulator in Spain has put out a warning regarding soccer star Andres Iniesta for promoting major cryptocurrency exchange Binance.

Iniesta, a prolific midfielder who has played for Barcelona and the Spanish national team, was promoting Binance on his social media profiles on Instagram and Twitter.

On Nov. 24, Iniesta posted several pictures of him next to a laptop showing the Binance website on the screen as well as holding a smartphone reflecting several major crypto markets, including Bitcoin (BTC) and Binance Coin (BNB).

Hola,@andresiniesta8, los criptoactivos, al ser productos no regulados, tienen algunos riesgos relevantes. Es recomendable leer el comunicado de@CNMV_MEDIOS del 9/2/2021 https://t.co/SWRF73xEJj e informarse a fondo antes de invertir en ellos o de recomendar a otros que lo hagan
— CNMV (@CNMV_MEDIOS) November 24, 2021

At the time of writing, Iniesta has over 38 million subscribers on Instagram and more than 25 million followers on Twitter. The Instagram post has amassed over 270,000 likes at the time of publishing.

Spain’s securities market regulator, the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV), took to Twitter about 12 hours after Iniesta published the post to warn the player about crypto investment risks.

Citing its regulatory statement from February 2021, the CNMV stressed that investors should be properly informed about crypto and its risks before investing and making financial advice. “Hi Andres Iniesta, cryptoassets carry some significant risks due to being unregulated products,” CNMV wrote.

It appears to be unclear whether Iniesta was offered any retainer for promoting Binance. Cointelegraph has reached out to the soccer player via contacts on Iniesta’s official website and will update this story pending new information.

Rams player Odell Beckham Jr. will accept NFL salary in Bitcoin

November 22, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Bitcoin Payments

Reports suggest the Los Angeles Rams player’s total salary for the 2021 season would be worth roughly 75.66 BTC at an average price of $56,103.

Odell Beckham Jr., wide receiver for the Los Angeles Rams football team, has said he will be taking all of his $4.25 million National Football League salary in Bitcoin.

In a Nov. 22 post to his Twitter account, Beckham said he would be partnering with Cash App to take his next NFL salary in Bitcoin (BTC). National Insider reporter Ian Rapoport said earlier this month that Beckham would be earning a $750,000 base salary on top of a $500,000 signing bonus in addition to $3 million in other incentives, totaling $4.25 million for the 2021 season.

It's a NEW ERA & to kick that off I'm hyped to announce that I'm taking my new salary in bitcoin thanks to @CashApp. To ALL MY FANS out there, no matter where u r: THANK YOU! I’m giving back a total of $1M in BTC rn too. Drop your $cashtag w. #OBJBTC & follow @CashApp NOW pic.twitter.com/ds1IgZ1zup
— Odell Beckham Jr (@obj) November 22, 2021

According to data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro, Beckham’s total salary would be worth roughly 75.66 BTC given a price of $56,103 at the time of publication. Though the crypto asset reached an all-time high price near $69,000 on Nov. 10, it has since fallen under $60,000.

Beckham, who currently has a CryptoPunk-style image as his Twitter profile picture, currently plays with the Rams in Los Angeles. The city’s Staples Center — not the home of the Rams, but other sports teams including the Los Angeles Clippers — has recently been targeted by fans and social media personalities after the Crypto.com platform signed a $700 million deal to rename the arena.

Beckham joins other professional sports players embracing crypto as the space seemingly becomes more mainstream. In October, Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady said he would be compensating the fan who held his 600th-career-touchdown football with 1 BTC along with some signed sports memorabilia. Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers — recently in the national spotlight after deceiving the public about his COVID-19 vaccine status — also said he would be receiving part of his $22 million salary in BTC.

Chiliz (CHZ) gains 170% after launching live in-game NFTs for fan token holders

November 14, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Altcoin Watch

The launch of live in-game NFTs and a rapidly expanding ecosystem boosted the price of CHZ and showcased the project’s strong fundamentals.

This year has seen a number of high profile partnerships formed between the cryptocurrency sector and major sports leagues, teams and individual players. Nowadays players engage with their fans by issuing limited edition NFTs and other perks that are associated with crypto and blockchain technology.

Crypto companies are also making their presence known stitching their names on jerseys, buying stadium naming rights and paying for cleverly placed primetime commercials between game breaks.

One project that has seen a recent surge in interest thanks to its focus in the world of sports and helping fans interact with their favorite teams and players is Chiliz (CHZ), the blockchain network behind the Socios.com fan engagement platform.

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that since hitting a low of $0.243 on Sept. 29 the price of CHZ spiked 171% to a daily high at $0.657 on Oct. 31 and recent developments are now pushing the price back towards the swing high.

*CHZ/USDT 4-hour chart. Source: TradingView*

Three reasons for the growing strength of CHZ include the launch of live in-game NFTs, recent exchange listings for CHZ as well as its newly released fan tokens and the protocol's rapidly expanding ecosystem of partners.

Live in-game NFT drops

The development that kicked off the current rally was the rollout of the platform's first live, in-game NFT drop which took place a match between A.C. Milan and A.S. Roma.

This Sunday, history will be made as we release the first ever @acmilan NFT.

Here's how you can be one of ONLY 100 to own one #ACMNFT | $ACM ⚡️ $CHZ pic.twitter.com/0z1aGyFgAC
— Socios.com (@socios) October 29, 2021

With this design, new NFTs are minted as they happen based on key moments in live matches and then they are dropped to the wallet of fan token holders who correctly predict the outcome of the game.

The announcement that this new method of distributing NFTs was followed by a spike in demand for the token which has continued to build in the following weeks.

CHZ and fan token support

Another reason for the building momentum of CHZ has been the addition of new exchange listings, as well as its newly released fan tokens for clubs like São Paulo FC, AC Milan and Manchester City.

Introducing Manchester City @ManCity Fan Token $CITY on Binance Launchpool! Farm $CITY by Staking #BNB, $CHZ and $BUSD Tokens

➡️ https://t.co/LvGgKeympQ pic.twitter.com/4V5OP63GFS
— Binance (@binance) November 10, 2021

In addition to the listings, Binance is also allowing fans to earn tokens from their favorite teams by staking Binance Coin (BNB), Binance USD (BUSD) and CH.

OKEx also announced that it will support tokens from the Chiliz ecosystem and CHZ appears to have benefited from a new listing eToro's crypto exchange on Nov. 9.

Expanding ecosystem backs the current rally

Ecosystem expansion could be another recent development that is strengthening CHZ's fundamentals.

More than 80 sports properties announced partnerships with @chiliz x @socios, more than +100 already signed. While improving our product and starting to prepare a global marketing campaign, we focus on building a leading new fan ecosystem (engagement x monetization). #innovation pic.twitter.com/mZKOL6IyDH
— Alexandre Dreyfus (@alex_dreyfus) November 6, 2021

Recently, the platform unveiled a partnership with Kraft Sports and Entertainment which will see the National Football League’s (NFL) New England Patriots and Major League Soccer’s (MLS) New England Revolution join the Chiliz and Socios ecosystem.

This partnership marks the first foray for Chiliz into the NFL and MLS and indicates that the protocol has its sights set on expanding to cover all major sports leagues where there is a demand from fans for more engagement.

VORTECS™ data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro began to detect a bullish outlook for CHZ on Oct. 28, prior to the recent price rise.

The VORTECS™ Score, exclusive to Cointelegraph, is an algorithmic comparison of historical and current market conditions derived from a combination of data points including market sentiment, trading volume, recent price movements and Twitter activity.

*VORTECS™ Score (green) vs. CHZ price. Source:* *Cointelegraph Markets Pro*

As seen in the chart above, the VORTECS™ Score for CHZ began to pick up on Oct. 27 and reached a high of 70 on Oct. 28, just as its price began to increase 125% over the next two weeks.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.

NFL quarterback Aaron Rodgers will accept part of $22M salary in Bitcoin

November 1, 2021 Coin Telegraph

aaron rodgers

The Green Bay Packers player's total salary would be worth roughly 368.8 BTC at a price of $60,636.

Aaron Rodgers, quarterback for the Green Bay Packers football team, has said he will be taking part of his National Football League salary in Bitcoin.

In a video posted to his Twitter account on Nov. 1, Rodgers — dressed as fictional character John Wick, likely for Halloween — said he would be partnering with Cash App to take a portion of his salary in Bitcoin (BTC). The NFL reported in July that Rodgers would be earning a $1.1 million base salary on top of a $14.5 million signing bonus and a $6.8 million roster bonus from March, totaling roughly $22.3 million.

I believe in Bitcoin & the future is bright. That's why I’m teaming up with Cash App to take a portion of my salary in bitcoin today.

To make Bitcoin more accessible to my fans I’m giving out a total of $1M in btc now too. Drop your $cashtag w/ #PaidInBitcoin & follow @CashApp pic.twitter.com/mstV7eal04
— Aaron Rodgers (@AaronRodgers12) November 1, 2021

According to data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro, Rodgers’ total salary would be worth roughly 368.84 BTC at a price of $60,636 at the time of publication. Though the crypto asset reached an all-time high price approaching $67,000 on Oct. 20, it dipped under $60,000 more than once last week and has been mainly moving between $60,000 and $63,000.

Rodgers joins other professional sports players embracing crypto as the space becomes seemingly more mainstream. Last week, Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady said he would be compensating the fan who held his 600th career touchdown football with 1 BTC along with some signed sports memorabilia.

Sorare CEO shares bold vision on NFTs during Web Summit 2021 opening night

November 1, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Blockchain

The co-founder of the French tech unicorn discussed major innovations that could come as a result of developments in the NFTs industry.

Web Summit 2021, the biggest tech conference in the world, kicked off on Monday in Lisbon, Portugal, and will last until Nov. 4, 2021. In an opening statement, Carlos Moedas, the Mayor of Lisbon, said that "My dream is that Lisbon will be the capital of innovation in the world." Meanwhile, João Leão, the Minister of Finance of Portugal, stated:

"Portugal is the country people come to invest, to do business and to look live, and to do so in a manner that is open to different cultures."

Notable guest speakers included Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen, Black Lives Matter co-founder Ayo Tometi, and Nicholas Julia, co-founder and CEO of French non-fungible token, or NFT, fantasy gaming company Sorare.

NFTs are digital certificates of ownership representing artwork, images, videos, music, and more. They are stored in one's digital wallets, while the actual assets can be stored on-chain or off-chain, depending on size. Sorare enables players to manage their own football (soccer in the U.S.) teams with digital player cards minted as NFTs. These cards can be bought, sold, and transferred.

When asked about the future of the NFT industry within five to ten years, Julia said the following:

"NFTs will be the underlying technology for everything of value on the web. It could be monetary value, or it could be personal value. I mentioned personal identity earlier on, so that's something an NFT could carry for you on the web. It's going to be invisible."

Founded in Paris three years ago, Sorare's valuation has grown from $270 million to $4.3 billion. Japanese multinational conglomerate SoftBank led its latest round of funding in September. According to Julia, half a million users joined the platform organically, without any marketing. More than 200 football clubs worldwide are currently partnering with Sorare. Based on the company's profile on NFT marketplace OpenSea.io, Sorares cards' cumulative trading volume has surpassed 50,200 Ether (ETH).

But Sorare also seeks to expand outside the realm of NFTs for gaming. Julia issued the following statement in that regard:

"We want people to feel the benefits of it, that you truly own your digital good, that you can move it, and so it. We don't want the friction of the crypto, and that, most of the crypto products of today as complicated I see it as a technology that's going to underpin everything of value on the web."

Crypto Exchange FTX Buys Super Bowl Advertising Slot To Be Seen by Nearly 100 Million People

October 28, 2021 The Daily Hodl

football

Live in-game NFT drops

CHZ and fan token support

Expanding ecosystem backs the current rally

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