- Crypto.com purchased a 2022 Super Bowl ad alongside Sam Bankman-Fried's FTX.
- Both crypto platforms also recently bought the naming rights to professional sports arenas.
- A 30-second ad for the February 13 event is going for $6.5 million, the Wall Street Journal said.
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Singapore-based Crypto.com is the latest cryptocurrency platform to buy an ad for the 2022 Super Bowl after FTX said it bought a slot in October, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Crypto.com Chief Marketing Officer Steven Kalifowitz told the Journal the ad purchase is a way of showing people crypto isn't just a fad, but the "basis of the next version of the internet."
According to the Journal, NBCUniversal, which is airing the NFL's championship game on February 13, is seeking about $6.5 million for a 30-second ad. The televised event attracts millions of viewers each year, with last year's matchup pulling in 91 million people. Crypto.com did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
The ad buy is the latest move in sports as the five-year-old crypto brokerage seeks mainstream appeal.
On Tuesday, Crypto.com announced it would sponsor the Los Angeles women's soccer team known as Angel City Football Club. And last month, it spent $700 million to rename the Staples Center to the Crypto.com Arena, which is home to the LA Lakers and LA Kings.
The crypto company isn't the first of its kind to get into the professional sports arena, though. In October, FTX said it had purchased a 2022 Super Bowl ad. As for why, CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, aka the richest person in crypto, told Bloomberg, "there is no bigger, more mainstream event to share a message like that than the Super Bowl."
Earlier this year, the $25 billion company also bought the naming rights to the Miami Heat's stadium for $135 million. On top of that, Bankman-Fried tapped NFL icon Tom Brady to be a brand ambassador and partnered with Major League Baseball to become a sponsor.
Bankman-Fried said he's digging in on professional sports because fans are twice as likely as non-fans to know about crypto.