Crypto.com, the cryptocurrency exchange considered one of the major players in the crypto world, has stated that its significant partnerships with Formula 1 and UFC have propelled the company to new heights.
The Singapore-based crypto exchange founded in 2016 as Monaco, which was later changed to Crypto.com in 2018, expressed its delight regarding how having major sponsorship deals with famous sporting brands has helped it gain a wider audience and drive its growth.
If you are an avid follower of the Formula 1 racing championship of Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), you may have seen Crypto.com’s branding in various places.
In a recent interview given to Cointelegraph, the president and chief operating officer of the exchange, Eric Aziani, said that it has found itself at the front and center of the significant fan bases of these two sports due to its lucrative sponsorship deals.
Aziani opened up about the company’s primary advertising campaign with these sports brands, where he expressed his gratitude for how partnering with these major brands has helped propel the company to new heights.
In a statement, Aziani said: “We’ve been fortunate to find these amazing partners. F1, the UFC, working in LA with the Crypto.com Arena and AEG.”
The statement highlights how the exchange has various partnerships with different sporting brands. Formula 1, considered the pinnacle of motorsports, the exchange has a partnership with the Aston Martin Formula 1 team as one of the sponsors. Fernando Alonso, the two-time F1 world champion in 2005 and 2006, drives for the Aston Martin F1 team.
It also has a different sponsorship from the sporting organization behind Formula 1, and you can see its logos and images being displayed in races on various parts of the circuit where the races take place. Also, Crypto.com became the title sponsor of the Miami Grand Prix race in 2022.
It was also poised to appear similarly in the Singapore Grand Prix, but the country’s strict crypto laws limited its exposure to the audience there.
Why Formula 1 partnership is Lucrative for Crypto.com
In 2023, ESPN reported an average of 1.11 million viewers per race during the Formula 1 season in the United States. Additionally, F1’s global viewership in 2022 surpassed one billion across the race calendar. So, if your brand has been gaining exposure to such a wide array of audiences, you can certainly hope to reap benefits from it by attracting more customers to your platform.
Anziani highlights that market surveys conducted by the exchange demonstrate solid global brand recognition among retail cryptocurrency users.
He emphasizes the difficulty of establishing and sustaining a brand within a short timeframe but believes their investments in maintaining visibility have yielded positive results.
In his statement given to Cointelegraph, Aziani said: “For a brand to be built in just a couple of years is challenging to maintain. Staying top of mind for users is challenging, and I think those investments have paid off.”
Formula 1 is not the only sport where Crypto.com has tried to grasp the audience’s attention.
The Ultimate Fighting Championship, which is a leading mixed martial arts (MMA) organization that showcases high-level competitive bouts between fighters of various disciplines, including boxing, wrestling, and Brazilian jiu-jitsu, within an octagonal cage has also been targeted by the exchange as a potential avenue where it can raise its popularity.
The UFC draws a sizable global audience, with fight nights over the past two years attracting viewership comparable to a single F1 race. Iconic matchups like Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Conor McGregor sold 2.4 million pay-per-view tickets.
The exchange’s logo features prominently on various parts of the arena, along with the floor and cage padding of the UFC octagons, which don’t disappear from view during the whole fight. Hence, you know that it is one of the prime spaces available for advertising your brand on one of the fastest-growing sports in the world.
Aziani has said that the exchange has been observing how these brands have a significant viewership and how it can integrate its involvement with the fans watching these sports.
He said: “We have also seen a lot of activations with those brands being integrated, being relevant to the fans and the participants. It has been tremendous in bringing people into the space through these partnerships.”
Crypto.com has seen an increased impact on its customer base since they have announced these significant partnerships. According to data, the exchange was sitting on a formidable 80 million users in 2023. Aziani reported that the number is approaching 100 million users in 2024, which is an impressive 20 million increase in just one year.
These two sports are not the only sporting events on which the exchange has set its footprints. It has also bought the naming rights to the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) Los Angeles Lakers team. The Lakers have been synonymous with the basketball world for a long time and are also one of the most popular and successful teams in the NBA.
Its basketball arena was named Staples Centre when it first opened in 1999. However, the naming rights for the arena were bought by Crypto.com in 2021, and it has been called by this name ever since. Lebron James, the most famous basketball star in the world today, plays for the Lakers basketball team.
As the exchange expands, Anziani mentioned plans to offer specialized services tailored to high-volume, high-net-worth traders.
Recently launched in February 2024, Crypto.com Prime is an exclusive program aimed at such traders, requiring a $1 million deposit for membership activation.
Anziani emphasizes the program’s benefits, including minimal fees, extensive liquidity, institutional-grade custody, $1 million account protection, and unrestricted fiat transfers.
Additionally, the service provides dedicated account managers to assist high-net-worth traders in wealth accumulation and planning for inheritance and tax considerations.
Aziani also pointed out that the exchange is looking toward maintaining its dedication towards regulatory compliance and safeguarding users funds because these aspects of the exchange are always closely monitored and prove instrumental in not only the smooth running of operations for the exchange but also increase the confidence of its customer base to choose it as their preferred crypto trading platform.
He also referenced the collapse of the FTX exchange as the prime example of how exchanges shouldn’t operate because they would end up in so much trouble, as FTX did back in 2022.
He said: “I think the foundation of compliance and security is what everybody is looking for as a starting point.”
