Sports and sporting events provide an excellent avenue for companies and brands to advertise their offerings and gain exposure to a broad and diverse audience from different parts of the world.
The World Cup is the second biggest sporting event in the world after the Olympics. This kind of recognition makes it the ideal platform for cryptocurrency firms to advertise themselves to the international populace, thereby increasing awareness while encouraging adoption.
The 2022 FIFA World Cup, Qatar venue, is slated to begin on November 20 through to December 18. The competition will be one of the most important events this year in the race to bring crypto into the mainstream following the massive influx of sponsorships around cryptocurrencies.
Earlier in the year, crypto exchange platform Crypto.com was identified among the main sponsors of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, a move that will potentially expose the company to billions of users from all across the globe.
Crypto.com certainly ranks among the most dynamic companies in service advertisement to sports hobbyists and enthusiasts. The firm runs several ads during the Super Bowl and has even purchased the naming rights to a multi-purpose arena in downtown Los Angeles, Staple Center. According to reports, the stadium will go by Crypto.com Arena beginning December 5, 2022.
Barely two weeks to the World Cup, Crypto.com is looking to leverage the popular sporting event to reach a more global audience. As part of this aspiration, the company has enlisted the use of the payments processor Visa, which supports transactions for Crypto.com debit cards.
As part of the arrangement, Visa had five non-fungible tokens (NFTs) up for auction between November 1 and November 8, 2022, under the Visa Masters of Movement program, according to a Crypto.com press release.
In past World Cup events, the NFTs feature the most outstanding goals from different countries. The digital arts are a creation of XK Studios and inspired by iconic goals scored by five footballers- Jared Borgetti, Tim Cahill, Carli Lloyd, Michael Owen, and Maxi Rodriguez. Apart from the NFT, winning fans in the auctions will also take home signed memorabilia from the featured footballer. Visa noted that all proceeds would be donated to charity.
Attending fans will also enjoy a chance to create their NFTs during the Qatar 2022 World Cup by participating in four-minute long, six-on-six matches at the FIFA Fan Festival. In this regard, an active playing field will capture their movements and create unique GIFs colorable to match their favorite national team. Upon generation, fans can choose whether they want their GIF sent to them as NFTs via a Crypto.com account.
Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup Official Blockchain Sponsor
Crypto.com is one of many projects strategically positioned to maximize promotions in the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup. In May 2022, Algorand secured the envied position as FIFA’s official blockchain partner.
In the official partnership declaration, FIFA lauded Algorand for meriting that position, recognizing the firm as “founded by Turing Award-winning cryptographer Silvio Micali.” FIFA also praised Algorand for its position as a “green blockchain development company.”
In an era of increasing costs and environmental concerns, FIFA’s decision to collaborate with Algorand was influenced by the Algorand protocol’s potency to offer high-speed and low-cost transactions while leaving little to no ecological footprint.
Algorand will be FIFA’s solution provider for the official blockchain-supported wallet in the coalition, helping the sports conglomerate develop its digital assets strategy. A paragraph in the press release reads:
“As part of the agreement, Algorand will also assist FIFA in further developing its digital assets strategy, while FIFA will provide sponsorship assets including advertising, media exposure, and promotional opportunities.”
According to Micali, the FIFA-Algorand deal is an opportunity to display to the world Algorand’s blockchain potential in revolutionizing the way the world experiences FIFA games.
2022 FIFA World Cup Could Boost Global Crypto Adoption
The easiest way to prove that this year’s World Cup event could boost global cryptocurrency adoption is by looking at the growth witnessed during the previous World Cup in Russia in 2018. Although mitigating circumstances have aided the push for adoption, including international community sanctions against Russia compelling citizens to use crypto as an alternative, an upward trend was already manifest even before 2022.
Chainalysis data reveals that crypto adoption in the Middle East overtook all other regions in 2022, prompting the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to establish itself as a global crypto hub. As an aftermath of the high exposure level, crypto now has representation in the World Cup, which increases the chances that the adoption rate will continue to grow shortly.
Credit to the growing popularity of fan tokens, blockchain technology has increased the number of ways fans can engage. For example, crypto firm Chiliz, whose native token is CHZ, collaborated with some globally renowned football clubs FC Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain, Juventus, and others) to release their private tokens.
With famous football stars like Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo making what may be their final World Cup attendance on the field (at least as players in their prime), fans would like to memorialize certain critical moments as unique tradable NFTs to be sold or store on the blockchain. In the past two weeks, the performance of fan tokens for Messi and Ronaldo’s national teams (Argentina- ARG, Portugal-POR respectively recorded massive gains of up to 50% over the last three weeks. This is evidence of such demands.
