Cryptocurrencies and the future of sports sponsorship

The impact of cryptocurrencies on the world of sports sponsorship is very similar to what the tobacco industry had in the 1970s. Decentralized finance, which is agile, global and untethered by territorial and cultural boundaries, has found sponsorship and agreements with top sports teams and events to be an effective and decidedly cross-cutting communication and marketing tool.

The most fertile ground for this very rapid rise is understandably that of “tier one motorsport,” or the top series of two- and four-wheel racing. This can come as no surprise. Formula 1, Formula E e MotoGP are supranational, hugely popular platforms with young, tech-savvy audiences and, above all, characterized by a top-notch technological, digital and innovation profile that fits well with the many nuances of this “new finance.”

Precisely the multiplicity of these nuances and their continuous and extremely rapid change represent one of the salient features of the world of crypto, NFTs, decentralized exchanges and new-trading: freed from nagging legislation and backward regulators, these new economic instruments have rapidly adapted to the needs and demands of consumers, sometimes going to satiate existing appetites and sometimes to tickle new ones.

The simultaneous existence of two narratives of different signatures-the enthusiasts and the skeptics, the early-adopters versus the late-users-has not prevented extraordinary popularity and inordinate growth, far removed from the uncertain beginnings of its origins, even in more complex markets such as Africa, where as much as 35 percent of the Nigerian population has, for example, invested in cryptocurrency.

There are more than 18,000 cryptocurrencies currently on the market, although only a fraction of these have sufficient popularity and value to gain international dignity and exposure. This extraordinary competition (not to mention in the market for exchangers or NFTs) requires the major players to turn to communication tools that distinguish them from the crowd and elevate their perception in the eyes of the consumer. Indeed, it is no mystery that it is precisely the reputation of these tools, often considered risky, that is the first obstacle for these newco’s to circumvent.

Sponsorships, crypto and Formula 1

To date, it is probably Formula 1 that is the ultimate object of desire for decentralized finance companies. Buoyed by a regulatory, image and management revival, motorsport’s top series knows a state of extraordinary health. This is evidenced by the numbers, both in television ratings and -above all- in track audiences. For example, more than 475,000 fans lined the lawns of the April 2022 Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne over the three-day weekend, making it the most impressive sporting event in the history of the southern continent.

Almost every Formula 1 team on the grid today has a sponsorship or partnership in cryptocurrencies, tokens, blockchain, and decentralized finance. Some teams, such as Red Bull, have also had the foresight to further subdivide the commodity category, making room for new and more partners. Summarizing the current situation:

• Alfa Romeo: Floki, Socios
• Alpha Tauri: Fantom
• Alpine: Binance
• Aston Martin: Crypto.com, Socios
• Ferrari: Velas
• McLaren: Tezos
• Mercedes: FTX
• Red Bull Racing: ByBit, Tezos

What is impressive is not only the number of agreements, which is bound to grow and become even more specialized as in the case of Red Bull, but their value. The agreement between ByBit and Red Bull Racing recently signed is worth about $50 million a year, while the deal Crypto.com has signed with the Championship is $100 million.

It is now clear that the queen of open-wheel racing has become the “place to be” for an industry that is worth billions of dollars and is set to grow. Wanting to probably exaggerate the concept a bit, it is not incorrect to say that sponsorship in F1 is a seal of value, relevance and reliability for these companies: it is no coincidence that the top players in the industry, such as Binance (the world’s leading cryptocurrency exchanger), are raising staggering sums to be present in the championship.

The present and future of sponsorships for cryptocurrencies, NFTs and exchanges

Before giving way to a brief history of crypto-sponsorships (understanding the past is always important for analyzing the future), it is not incorrect to take a look at the present and immediate future of this impressive industry trend.

It is clear that what we are experiencing today, in Formula 1 but in all top sports series, is but the beginning of a piece of sports marketing history. The mass arrival of crypto, NFTs, and blockchain is only the periscope of a submarine of titanic dimensions that will likely reveal its tonnage only in the five years to come.

Having shaken off the nefarious aura of a not-always-crystal-clear reputation, today’s decentralized finance solutions have finally donned the skin of thick operations, widely financially supported, with a vast and global user audience and broad shoulders. It is difficult to say what will become of all these instruments, but it is also certain that they will represent a substantial and growing slice of the world’s finance and economy in the decades to come.

In the meantime, the industry-our industry, that is, the industry of sports sponsorship-must go back to the proverbial slate and get its hands on a set of theoretical and practical tools capable of providing new answers to new problems, and avoid finding itself unprepared for a wave of novelties and introductions that will necessarily come. For it is self-evident that the needs of these new realities are quite different from those, well known, of the traditional corporations of the past. Marketing benefits, flexible arrangements, and new approaches must therefore underpin a new chapter in sports marketing and sponsorship, one that now revises the role of exposure-online and offline-as central and instead must reevaluate the weight of so many one-to-one activations that have always carried the lion’s share of the burden in the past.

It is a very rapid, constant evolution that will not be long in coming, and it will involve properties, agencies and industry professionals. Who once again, can do nothing but embrace the change.

The story: beginnings and 2014 sponsorships

In 2014, the world of professional sports received an infusion of money from a hitherto unimagined source. As bitcoin approached $1,000 for the first time, crypto-economy companies jumped into the world of sports sponsorships.

Jamaica’s bobsled team made it to the Sochi Winter Olympics after raising $30,000 in Dogecoin (one of the most popular cryptocurrencies, bearing the internet meme’s famous Shiba Inu dog as its logo), Florida’s St. Petersburg Bowl was renamed the “Bitcoin” St. Petersbrurg Bowl by the BitPay brand, and the Dogecoin community on Reddit raised $55,000 to sponsor NASCAR driver Josh Wise‘s car.

Globally, sports sponsorship is a $40 billion industry-an absolutely unmissable arena for those, like e-coins, who need credibility and visibility. Most tokens, in fact, are not backed by actual economic resources or value counterparts, and so it is clear that awareness, popularity and high visibility are the main marketing aims of industry players.

However, after a resounding surge in 2014, the crypto sponsorship boom in the sports world suddenly ended. With the price of bitcoin collapsing at the end of the same 2014, sponsorship money dried up and crypto companies had to think more about rebuilding on the rubble than investing in the future. At least until now.

The Cryptocurrency Boom of 2018

Drawn by a soaring stock market, crypto-sponsorships are making a comeback in early 2018.

CashBet, a U.S.-based gaming tokens company, kicked things off in January by signing a sponsorship deal with Arsenal, a deal that saw CashBet’s ICO ( the Initial Coin Offering, one of the leading financing schemes for crypto-currencies advertised on the LEDs on the sidelines.

In July Crypto Exchange CoinDeal became the sleeve sponsor of Wolverhampton FC, and in October the social trading platform eToro signed a deal to sponsor Tottenham Hotspur and six other Premier League teams, a deal that paid off in bitcoin.

“From the beginning we had a plan to mark our presence globally. We wanted great players and great brands, and the best of soccer globally is the Premier League, because of the spectacle it provides and the boundless passion of the fans,” Kajetan Mackowiak, co-founder and chief marketing officer of CoinDeal, told Forbes.

British soccer obviously has global appeal, but crypto-sponsorships are already expanding beyond football. Last October, the British Masters golf tournament was sponsored by LIFElabs, creator of the LIFEtoken cryptocurrency, a third of which goes to invest in philanthropic causes.

Luke Chittock, CEO of LIFElabs, told Forbes that the Masters was just the beginning of a much broader marketing program: “We are looking to diversify the brand’s impact in different sports. We want to range from auto racing to winter sports, from soccer to swimming.”

Coming out of the United Kingdom, 25 percent of the Rimini F.C. soccer team was acquired by sports investor Heritage Sports Holdings (HSH), a purchase that was made in Quantocoin digital currency and saw the token itself become the team’s jersey sponsor.

Pablo Victor Dana, founder of HSH, told Forbes that after the acquisition of Rimini he would “be approached by several other teams willing to receive Crypto / Quatocoin in exchange for shares. One of them in England.

Part of this article is a translation of the article “Crypto Sponsorships are Heating Up (again)” by Oliver Smith and published in Forbes on November 15, 2018