Crypto.com signs as official sponsor of FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022; targets 1 billion crypto owners by the end of 2022

Crypto.com, the popular cryptocurrency trading platform, is the official sponsor of FIFA World Cup 2022. The FIFA World Cup 2022 is being held from November 21 to December 18 in Qatar. The FIFA World Cup is one of the biggest sporting events in the world and the title sponsorship is an extension to Crypto.com‘s recent high-profile sponsorship deals.

As part of the deal, Crypto.com’s branding will feature prominently at the tournament’s venues. For Crypto.com’s over 10 million customers, the sponsorship deal will become an opportunity to attend matches and win merchandise. The company says it will also be the exclusive cryptocurrency trading platform sponsor, which could be a hint at possible NFT trading options at the event.

“Crypto.com has already demonstrated a commitment to supporting top-tier teams and leagues, major events and iconic venues across the world, and there is no platform bigger, or with a greater reach and cultural impact, than FIFA’s global platform of football,” says Kay Madati, FIFA’s Chief Commercial Officer.

Crypto.com and its major sponsorship deals

Crypto.com has been inking similar deals with major events and has now signed sponsorship deals with the Staples Centre, the Australian Football League, Formula 1, and the UFC. The cryptocurrency trading platform first purchased the naming rights to the Staples Centre in Los Angeles for the next two decades in November.

The estimated $700M deal saw the Staples Centre renamed to Crypto.com Arena and it was the first shot at Crypto.com’s ambition to increase brand awareness through major deals with sporting events and venues. The Staples Arena deal was followed by a $25M partnership with the Australian Football League (AFL).

In February, Crypto.com was announced as the official partner of Miami Formula 1 event and the deal came after the cryptocurrency trading platform had struck a five-year $100M deal with the top-tier two seater racing event to sponsor its Sprint series. At the three Sprint racing events last season, Crypto.com was prominently present but the brand is getting even more exposure with the start of 2022 season.

At the Bahrain Grand Prix last week, Crypto.com came up on the broadcast more often with its sponsorship of overtaking awards being shown at regular intervals. The prominence of the branding was hard to miss even for those with their eyes glued to the racing action. Crypto.com has similar deals with the Serie A, the Italian football league and the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).

Brand awareness is proportional to crypto adoption

For Crypto.com, all these sponsorship deals translate to one thing – driving brand awareness. We have seen brands use sporting events and associated venues to drive their brand awareness. Smartphone maker Vivo used cricket league IPL to drive its brand reputation and adoption in India.

With the global appeal of football, Crypto.com stands to benefit from this sponsorship deal that will extend its reach to an international audience. FIFA says the 2018 World Cup in Russia was viewed by over 3.5 billion people and the final between France and Croatia alone had a worldwide audience of 1.2 billion viewers.

These audience numbers tie-in with Crypto.com’s own report called “Crypto Market Sizing” released in January. The report measures global adoption of crypto assets and stated that crypto owners grew to nearly 300 million in 2021. The report predicted that those who own crypto will surpass 1 billion by the end of 2022. To get there, Crypto.com will need exposure to over a billion users and the FIFA World Cup gives it that level of exposure.

“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,” adds Madati.

Crypto.com: what you need to know

Crypto.com was founded in 2016 as a cryptocurrency platform that allows users to buy, sell and pay with crypto. Today, the platform has over 100 million customers and has the world’s fastest growing crypto app. It also offers Crypto.com Visa Card, which is the largest crypto card programme in the world.

Since its founding, Crypto.com has expanded to offer a crypto exchange and DeFi Wallet. It also offers Crypto.com NFT as a platform for collecting and trading NFTs, which includes a curation from the world of art, design, entertainment, and sports. Headquartered in Singapore, Crypto.com employs over 2,600 people across the Americas, Europe and Asia, and promises to offer a platform built on security, privacy and compliance.

“We could not be more excited to sponsor the FIFA World Cup, one of the most prestigious tournaments in the world, and to drive further awareness of Crypto.com globally. Through our partnership with FIFA, we continue to use our platform in innovative ways so that Crypto.com can power the future of world-class sports and fan experiences around the world,” says Kris Marszalek, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Crypto.com.