CoinJar head of content Luke Ryan says that the inclusion of sponsorship from popular sports teams will help persuade Australian central banks that cryptocurrency does not equate to pure speculation. The sports industry in the country is massive, especially football.
The CoinJar exchange partnering with the Melbourne Demons of the Australian Football League shows the general audience that cryptocurrency is a good investment. CoinJar is the first in the country to receive a sponsorship from the AFL and wants to promote cryptocurrency more to the local crowd.
Promoting Crypto Through Legitimate Businesses
The existence of cryptocurrency may cringe centralized banks and states, but the help of industry giants can prove that digital assets are far beyond Ponzi schemes.
In an interview with Cointelegraph, Ryan pointed out that,
“There’s a real declaration of intent by the industry, not necessarily about ‘we sponsor this team, and then we got X number of new users,’ it’s more about we sponsor this team because we want to show the world we’re companies with consequences, with plans and long term visions, and a way of showing that is to align ourselves with an established presence.”
Cryptocurrency has been gaining a lot of exposure lately in the world of sports, such as the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California, now named Crypto.com Arena. Sports engagement-focused token Chiliz is partnering with big leagues such as Juventus, AC Milan, Barcelona, Manchester City, Arsenal, NBA teams, NFL franchises, F1, and the UFC.
Sports leagues also release official NFT merchandise, including NBA Topshot and NFL ALL DAY. Mark Cuban, an investor extraordinaire and Dallas Mavericks owner, also plans to broaden the use of crypto for merchandise and ticket payments.
Australian Central Banks on Bitcoin and the Altcoin Market
In 2021, Central banks such as the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) warned Australian citizens that Bitcoin is just a speculation, not money. The use of Bitcoin is associated with financial crime, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) said. In August of this year, the RBA released plans to introduce a central bank digital currency (CBDC) to help Australians use a more legitimate and regulated non-physical currency other than Bitcoin.
Contrastingly, Commonwealth Bank Australia (CBA) was the first to announce that CommBank app users can directly exchange AUD for crypto and vice-versa. However, the service was short-lived as CBA faced regulatory delays in April 2022 and had to stop its direct crypto trading feature in May, right before the Terra Luna collapse.
Much like any other first-world country, central banks and governments aim to put cryptocurrency on a leash, fearing that some citizens may take advantage of its decentralized nature to launder large sums of money and exploit the financial system. Despite the massive popularity of Bitcoin among the people, Australia is one of the nations with the tightest regulatory actions against crypto.
Australian Crypto May Need More Leverage
Having the AFL to back up one of the biggest crypto exchanges in the country is one thing, but central banks will not just bow and agree that cryptocurrency is real money because it has major league sports. Yet, several sectors already support digital assets, including agriculture and education.
CoinJar is not done with its cause of promoting cryptocurrency in Australia; they are currently in talks with major companies to broaden and help legitimize its use case.
