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Crypto.com looks to sports to capture non-crypto audience
Crypto.com wants to increase its sports sponsorships to reach a wider audience.
The company is aimed at sport as an engine to reach non-crypto enthusiasts and will “double down on our strategy,” Chief Marketing Officer Steven Kalifowitz he told Bloomberg News on Sunday (May 5) ahead of the Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix, which Crypto.com is sponsoring.
Crypto.com has lent its name to that ride since its debut in 2022, as part of a 10-year, $10 million deal, the report said. The company is also the global sponsor of Formula 1, with a five-year deal worth $100 million.
In addition to auto racing, Crypto.com also has partnerships with the Philadelphia 76ers, the Ultimate Fighting Championship and the Australian Football League. Hip-hop star Eminem recently narrated a commercial for the company during an NBA playoff game, held at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.
Kalifowitz told Bloomberg that his company’s visibility has increased since it began dedicating its marketing efforts to the world of sports, with Crypto.com now boasting more than 100 million users.
The report noted this crypto sponsorships of sporting events have been rising since the fall of FTX in 2022.
That company had its own ties to the sports world, with athletes supporting the trade such as Tom Brady and Shaquille O’Neal being targeted legal action by investors.
Last month, a group of these investors agreed to drop lawsuits against Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced founder of FTX, in exchange of his collaboration against sports stars and other celebrities paid to promote the company.
According to the agreement, the plaintiffs believe Bankman-Fried has “knowledge and other information” that could be valuable to their case. As part of the deal, Bankman-Fried would also turn over non-privileged documents detailing his assets and his investment in artificial intelligence (AI) startup Anthropic, along with an affidavit certifying his net worth as negative.
Meanwhile, the CEO of Crypto.com Kris Marszalek noted last month that his company’s venture capital unit has concerns about some of the high ratings seen recently in the industry.
“We want the financial return,” Marszalek told Bloomberg in April. “Right now, the ratings put out by the project teams are very generous.”
The company has also been on a hiring spree, saying last month it was looking to add 1,400 employees. It’s part of a recent wave of hiring in the cryptocurrency industry, with companies including Coinbase Global, Kraken, Binance and Gemini recently adding positions.
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