Ben Strack

<div id="highlights-block_623a29cff3ea8" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Crypto.com had already made deals with the Australian Football League and Formula One this year</li>
 <li>Competitor FTX landed a partnership with tennis player Naomi Osaka on Monday</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Crypto.com will be a sponsor for the 2022 FIFA <a href="https://www.fifa.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">World Cup</a>, which is set to take place in Qatar in November and December.



As the exclusive cryptocurrency trading platform sponsor for the soccer event, the company’s brand will be on display inside and outside the tournament’s stadiums. Crypto.com will also offer opportunities for new and existing users to attend matches or win exclusive merchandise.



“There is no platform bigger, or with a greater reach and cultural impact, than FIFA’s global platform of football,” FIFA Chief Commercial Officer Kay Madati said in a statement. “We are delighted to have a global brand like Crypto.com join us as a sponsor of the exciting and groundbreaking FIFA World Cup in Qatar, ultimately helping to grow our beautiful game on a global scale.”



The company has made sports sponsorship deals a <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/crypto-com-cmo-on-how-company-went-from-app-to-global-brand/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">core component</a> of its brand-building campaign. It bought the naming rights to the Staples Center in Los Angeles last November as part of a 20-year, $700 million deal and aired a commercial starring actor Matt Damon.



In January this year it <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/crypto-com-australian-football-league-sign-18m-sponsorship-deal-in-country-first/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">signed a five-year sponsorship deal</a> with the Australian Football League and last month announced it would sponsor what will be known as the Formula One Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix in May.



The company was also among several industry heavyweights, including FTX and Coinbase, to run an advertisement <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/super-bowl-ads-spark-public-interest-coinbase-site-crashes-from-traffic/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">during the Super Bowl</a> on Feb. 13. The 30-second commercial featured LeBron James and followed Crypto.com’s <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/lebron-james-partners-with-crypto-com-to-help-kids-learn-about-digital-future/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">partnership with the four-time NBA champion</a> to teach kids about crypto technology.



Other crypto firms have kept pace on the sports marketing front. Terra, for example, <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/washington-nationals-latest-pro-sports-team-to-strike-crypto-deal/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">partnered with the Washington Nationals</a> last month. The baseball team said that stablecoin TerraUSD (UST) could be accepted as a payment method at Nationals Park next season.



Most recently, FTX landed a deal with tennis player Naomi Osaka on Monday. Joining athletes Tom Brady, Stephen Curry and others as a brand ambassador for the crypto company, the four-time Grand Slam winner will produce content and projects to reach young women in crypto.



Founded in 2016,&nbsp;Crypto.com has more than 10 million customers and roughly 4,000 employees across its offices in the Americas, Europe and Asia.



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Crypto.com Adds FIFA World Cup Sponsorship to Sports Marketing Strategy

<div id="highlights-block_62041a180a97c" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Stablecoin TerraUSD (UST) could be accepted for payments at Nationals Park next season</li>
 <li>Crypto.com is set as the title sponsor of May Formula One race in Miami after becoming the first crypto sponsor of the racing organization last year</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



As all eyes are on crypto advertisements slated for the Super Bowl, more players in the space are looking toward other sports to build brand awareness.



The Washington Nationals will partner with Terra, the Major League Baseball team said Wednesday — in what the team billed as the first deal between a DAO and a sports franchise.



It’s a boon for the Terra Community Pool, one of crypto’s largest DAOs (decentralized autonomous organizations). The Terra blockchain deploys algorithmic, decentralized stablecoins that underpin its ecosystem.



As part of the deal, the club space behind home plate will be renamed the Terra Club. In addition to other in-stadium signage, Terra will sponsor a five-part digital series that airs on the Nationals’ social media platforms. Terra’s LUNA coin is the 10th-largest, according to CoinGecko, with a market capitalization of roughly $23 billion.



Stablecoin TerraUSD (UST) could be accepted as a payment method at Nationals Park next season, the team added. A Terra spokesperson did not return a request for further comment.



Terraform Labs Founder Do Kwon had urged the Terra community to pay $38.15 million to a then-unnamed sports franchise in <a href="https://agora.terra.money/t/community-funding-proposal-for-redacted-sports-partnership/3962" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">a Jan. 31 proposal</a>. The money would cover $7.5 million of annual fees for five years and $650,000 to cover construction, renovation and redesign costs.



“By approving this sponsorship deal, the community has a new way to engage and educate the public, including the policy makers doing important work in Washington, D.C., about decentralized money and the burgeoning technology that underlies it,” Kwon said in a statement.&nbsp;



The deal is the latest in a string of partnerships between crypto companies and professional sports teams. Software platform and decentralized infrastructure provider Ankr <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/sacramento-kings-nba-franchise-partners-with-ankr/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">made a deal</a> with the NBA’s Sacramento Kings in October, while <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/voyager-digital-partners-with-dallas-mavericks/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Voyager Digital partnered</a> with the Dallas Mavericks later that month.



Crypto exchange FTX partnered with Major League Baseball last year, which resulted in the league’s umpires adorning their uniforms with an FTX patch.



Terra’s deal came the same day Crypto.com said it would sponsor what will be known as the Formula One Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix in May. A Crypto.com spokesperson declined to disclose the cost.



Crypto.com <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/crypto-com-cmo-on-how-company-went-from-app-to-global-brand/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">capped off a marketing-heavy 2021</a> by purchasing the naming rights to the former Staples Center in Los Angeles as part of a 20-year, $700 million deal. Before that, the firm became the first cryptocurrency sponsor of F1 in a reported $100 million deal.



The company’s chief marketing officer previously told Blockworks that reaching “Super Bowl-size” audiences through F1 is even more important amid a fractured media landscape that has people watching content at different times.



The crypto platform is set to run an advertisement during the Super Bowl. A spokesperson for the company declined to comment further.



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Start your day with top crypto insights from David Canellis and Katherine Ross. <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire">Subscribe to the Empire newsletter</a>.



Explore the growing intersection between crypto, macroeconomics, policy and finance with Ben Strack, Casey Wagner and Felix Jauvin. <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/onthemargin">Subscribe to the Forward Guidance newsletter</a>.



Get alpha directly in your inbox with the <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/research">0xResearch newsletter</a> — market highlights, charts, degen trade ideas, governance updates, and more.



The Lightspeed newsletter is all things Solana, in your inbox, every day. <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/lightspeed">Subscribe to daily Solana news</a> from Jack Kubinec and Jeff Albus.