The parabolic performance of Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and several other altcoins have attracted significant attention from almost every sector in the real world. From music to art, memes, and podcasts – everyone is jumping into the crypto bandwagon.
As the mainstream media outlets like Yahoo Finance and Forbes continue to hype cryptocurrencies, featuring full-page blogs, news, and opinion pieces, it has provided the burgeoning crypto market to enter its foot into the realm of traditional advertising. Take, for instance, the rising number of partnerships between crypto firms and prominent football clubs.
Legacy football clubs like Paris-Saint Germain (PSG), Inter Milan, and others have already publicly announced their partnerships with leading crypto firms. At the same time, other clubs have launched their own “fan tokens,” like the Atletico Madrid Fan Token (ATM), Manchester City Fan Token (CITY), AC Milan Fan Token (ACM), and more, bringing the “Football Fan Token” market capitalization to $267 million and counting.
Football Clubs Capitalize and Catapult Into The Cryptoverse
While the emergence of cryptocurrencies in the sports industry isn’t a new trend. Sports organizations and personalities have already carved a niche for themselves with NFTs. However, things started taking a new turn as crypto brands started taking more interest in the sports industry. Per the data published by GlobalData, in the first half of 2021, crypto-specific brands have spent a whopping $107 million on sports sponsorship agreements.
European football clubs were the first to join this trend. Following this, several other South American, Middle Eastern, and Asian football clubs, too, have entered the scene. From fan tokens to full-fledged crypto sponsorships, it seems that football clubs can’t get enough of the disruptive power of digital tokens and the underlying blockchain technology.
For instance, the jerseys of Inter Milan players featured the Pirelli logo for over 26 years. However, since the start of the current season, the reigning champions of the Italian League Serie A, are now flaunting jerseys with “$INTER”, the club’s official fan token issued by Socios.
Earlier in August this year, football G.O.A.T. Lionel Messi’s move from FC Barcelona to PSG sparked similar moves. Leading crypto exchange Crypto.com entered a multi-year partnership with Paris Saint-Germain (PSG). Likewise, La Liga also signed a partnership deal with a leading blockchain-based fan engagement solution, Socios.com, to create new fan tokens for the league’s 800 million fans.
BitMEX has also entered into a multi-year partnership with AC Milan for both the men’s and women’s teams alongside Rossoneri’s eSports team, AQM. To date, BitMEX’s logo is displayed on all official playing kits for the three teams. Another crypto startup, Floki Inu, the meme crypto, has also muscled its way into forging partnerships with football clubs across Spain and India. Floki Inu’s logo and website feature prominently on India’s Kerala Blasters Football Club’s kit and Spanish La Liga side Cádiz.
ByBit EntersThe Crypto-Football Bromance
Leading cryptocurrency exchange Bybit has now joined the ranks of Crypto.com, Socios, and Floki Inu. Per the Argentine Football Association (AFA) official statement, Bybit has been chosen as the club’s Global Main Sponsor for all matches in the next two years.
With this, Bybit will see its name advertised alongside other renowned brands like Nissan, Coca-Cola, and Adidas. As part of this two-year partnership, Bybit will gain extensive visibility across all AFA assets. Moreover, the logo will be displayed on the training clothing of Argentine captain Leo Messi and the entire team for the next 24 months.
Only time will tell if this trend continues, but for now, soccer fans worldwide can rejoice as they get their hands on club-specific tokens that grant access to a ton of new opportunities and features.
Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
