Budapest Post

Cum Deo pro Patria et Libertate
Budapest, Europe and world news

A crypto-heavy NBA season comes to an end

A crypto-heavy NBA season comes to an end

As the Golden State Warriors and their star point guard Steph Curry surged ahead of the Boston Celtics in Game 6 on Thursday to win their fourth NBA championship in eight seasons, it should also have been a win for the crypto industry.

The Warriors were said to have previously inked a sponsorship deal with FTX, a cryptocurrency exchange, reportedly worth $10 million. Curry himself earlier this year appeared in a commercial for FTX, in which he repeatedly notes he is not an expert on crypto. And the industry featured in the commercials during the finals, including an advertisement from Coinbase, another exchange, mocking crypto doubters by showing different tweets over the years claiming "Crypto is dead," followed by the words, "Long live crypto."

But as an NBA season and post-season awash in cryptocurrency sponsorships came to a close this week, the crypto industry was confronting new challenges. The price of many cryptocurrencies has plummeted, with Bitcoin falling to just above $20,000 this week, down from an all-time high of nearly $69,000 in November. Meanwhile, a wave of layoffs has spread throughout the sector to brace for a possible prolonged economic downturn. Now, the optics of those deals may have changed.

Any sports fan this year has been bombarded with crypto, including advertisements, arena name changes, logos on jerseys and NFT offerings. But even by that standard, the NBA has stood out. In just the last year, crypto jumped to the second highest spending sector in NBA sponsorships, up from 43rd, according to IEG, a sports partnerships consultancy. Cryptocurrency brands spent more than $130 million on NBA sponsorship this season, up from less than $2 million last season, according to the firm.

"The influx of spending is like nothing we've ever seen before. I would have expected that to be potentially a little bit more measured, but it has been completely like literally a runaway train," Peter Laatz, Global Managing Director at IEG, told CNN Business. "They were sort of spraying money everywhere."

Just five crypto companies, including Crypto.com, Coinbase and FTX, were responsible for 92% of the sector spending that helped the NBA reach $1.6 billion in annual sponsorship fees this season, according to IEG. The firm described the spending between the companies as a "bit of an arms race."

Then the market shifted. On Tuesday, one day after Coinbase aired its "long live crypto" commercial during Game 5, the startup announced laying off 1,100 people. In an email to staff, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong noted the possibility of a recession, which he said "could lead to another crypto winter, and could last for an extended period."

Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors dribbles during 2022 NBA Finals Practice and Media Availability on June 15, 2022 at the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts.


Coinbase said the commercial was a set part of their standing deal with the NBA, as the firm inked a multiyear agreement in October with the league to serve as the exclusive cryptocurrency platform partner of the NBA and WNBA. "This commercial was part of a prearranged package that came with our sponsorship of the NBA," according to a company spokesperson.

Crypto.com, another cryptocurrency exchange, purchased the naming rights for the Los Angeles Lakers' stadium in November, a deal reportedly worth $700 million. It also entered a multiyear deal to become the Philadelphia 76ers' official jersey patch partner. Crypto.com announced this week that it is laying off 260 employees due to the market downturn.

In a statement, the company said it remains "focused on investing resources into product and engineering capabilities to develop world-class products, as well as our strategic sports partnerships and believe they will continue to play a crucial role in our mission to accelerate the world's transition to cryptocurrency."

Binance, the rare crypto company to be hiring right now, recently appeared to take a dig at the sponsorship deals other startups entered into. In a hiring announcement, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao said: "It was not easy saying no to Super Bowl ads, stadium naming rights, large sponsor deals a few months ago, but we did."

Laatz, from IEG, said the "only thing" he can think to compare the crypto sponsorhip deals to is business spending activity during the dot-com bubble."There were xyz.com arenas popping up all over the place back in the day and that whole thing blew up and the deals went away," he said.

But as long as the sponsorship checks keep coming in, the NBA won't feel the pain, Laatz said. "The teams... would take that money over and over again," he said. "Getting it for a couple of years is better than getting nothing."

With or without the same number of sponsorship deals in the future, there are other ways the close tie-up between the NBA and the larger crypto industry may continue, including through NFTs, which are pieces of digital content linked to the blockchain, the digital database underpinning cryptocurrencies.

The NBA is involved in the NFT market with NBA Top Shot, a League-focused NFT marketplace that allows fans to buy, sell and trade basketball highlights, or "Moments." Top Shot, launched by Dapper Labs, was released to the public in October 2020 and has big name investors in the game, including Michael Jordan and Kevin Durant.

AI Disclaimer: An advanced artificial intelligence (AI) system generated the content of this page on its own. This innovative technology conducts extensive research from a variety of reliable sources, performs rigorous fact-checking and verification, cleans up and balances biased or manipulated content, and presents a minimal factual summary that is just enough yet essential for you to function as an informed and educated citizen. Please keep in mind, however, that this system is an evolving technology, and as a result, the article may contain accidental inaccuracies or errors. We urge you to help us improve our site by reporting any inaccuracies you find using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of this page. Your helpful feedback helps us improve our system and deliver more precise content. When you find an article of interest here, please look for the full and extensive coverage of this topic in traditional news sources, as they are written by professional journalists that we try to support, not replace. We appreciate your understanding and assistance.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
UN's Top Court Declares Environmental Protection a Legal Obligation Under International Law
"Crazy Thing": OpenAI's Sam Altman Warns Of AI Voice Fraud Crisis In Banking
The Podcaster Who Accidentally Revealed He Earns Over $10 Million a Year
UK Government Considers Dropping Demand for Apple Encryption Backdoor
Japanese Man Discovers Family Connection Through DNA Testing After Decades of Separation
Russia Signals Openness to Ukraine Peace Talks Amid Escalating Drone Warfare
Switzerland Implements Ban on Mammography Screening
Pogacar Extends Dominance with Stage Fifteen Triumph at Tour de France
President Trump Diagnosed with Chronic Venous Insufficiency After Leg Swelling
CEO Resigns Amid Controversy Over Relationship with HR Executive
NVIDIA Achieves $4 Trillion Valuation Amid AI Demand
Tulsi Gabbard Unveils Evidence Alleging Political Manipulation of Intelligence During Trump Administration
Centrist Criticism of von der Leyen Resurfaces as she Survives EU Confidence Vote
Trump Announces Coca-Cola to Shift to Cane Sugar in U.S. Production
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
Zelensky Reshuffles Cabinet to Win Support at Home and in Washington
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Church of England Removes 1991 Sexuality Guidelines from Clergy Selection
Superman Franchise Achieves Success with Latest Release
Hungary's Viktor Orban Rejects Agreements on Illegal Migration
Air India Pilot’s Mental Health Records Under Scrutiny
Jamie Dimon Warns Europe Is Losing Global Competitiveness and Flags Market Complacency
Moonshot AI Unveils Kimi K2: A New Open-Source AI Model
Martha Wells Says Humanity Still Far from True Artificial Intelligence
Nvidia Becomes World’s First Four‑Trillion‑Dollar Company Amid AI Boom
EU Delays Retaliatory Tariffs Amid New U.S. Threats on Imports
Trump Proposes Supplying Arms to Ukraine Through NATO Allies
US Opens First Rare Earth Mine in Over 70 Years in Wyoming
Bitcoin Reaches New Milestone of $116,000
Severe Heatwave Claims 2,300 Lives Across Europe
Declining Beer Consumption Signals Cultural Shift in Germany
Emails Leaked: How Passenger Luggage Became a Side Income for Airport Workers
Polish MEP: “Dear Leftists - China is laughing at you, Russia is laughing, India is laughing”
Western Europe Records Hottest June on Record
BRICS Expands Membership with Indonesia and Ten New Partner Countries
Elon Musk Founds a Party Following a Poll on X: "You Wanted It – You Got It!"
China’s Central Bank Consults European Peers on Low-Rate Strategies
France Requests Airlines to Cut Flights at Paris Airports Amid Planned Air Traffic Controller Strike
Poland Implements Border Checks Amid Growing Migration Tensions
Emirates Airline Expands Market Share with New $20 Million Campaign
Amazon Reaches Milestone with Deployment of One Millionth Robot
Yulia Putintseva Calls for Spectator Ejection at Wimbledon Over Safety Concerns
House Oversight Committee Subpoenas Former Jill Biden Aide Amid Investigation into Alleged Concealment of President Biden's Cognitive Health
Amazon Reaches Major Automation Milestone with Over One Million Robots
Extreme Heat Wave Sweeps Across Europe, Hitting Record Temperatures
Meta Announces Formation of Ambitious AI Unit, Meta Superintelligence Labs
Robots Compete in Football Tournament in China Amid Injuries
China Unveils Miniature Insect-Like Surveillance Drone
Marc Marquez Claims Victory at Dutch Grand Prix Amidst Family Misfortune
Germany Votes to Suspend Family Reunification for Asylum Seekers
×