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NBA Lands First Cryptocurrency Sponsorship With Coinbase
- NBA has agreed to a sponsorship deal with cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, which will become the league’s exclusive crypto partner.
- Coinbase will get WNBA, NBA G League, and USA Basketball branding, but the deal’s terms were not provided.
- Bitcoin will most likely be sidelined given Coinbase’s priorities with marketing and “crypto.”
The National Basketball Association has agreed to a sponsorship deal with Bitcoin and cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase ahead of its 75th anniversary, CNBC reported. With the agreement, the exchange has become the exclusive cryptocurrency partner of the NBA.
“The tech firm wants to increase awareness around blockchain technology to grow the crypto economy,” the report said. “Hence, the NBA will provide the company exposure including in Tuesday’s regular-season tip-off games on WarnerMedia property Turner Sports. Coinbase will also get presenting partner rights for the WNBA Commissioner’s Cup and the USA Basketball men’s and women’s national team exhibition tours.”
Coinbase will leverage nearly all of the platforms of the NBA, including the WNBA, NBA G League, NBA 2K League, and USA Basketball.
“In a statement, NBA executive Kerry Tatlock labeled Coinbase ‘a natural fit’ for the league’s cryptocurrency asset,” per the report. “NBA clubs have already leveraged crypto-related deals, including the Portland Trail Blazers’ jersey patch and Miami Heat arena naming rights.”
Although it is interesting to see the “crypto” industry advancing into the mainstream market, Bitcoin will likely be sidelined, given Coinbase’s priorities.
Bitcoin is the de-facto innovation and the precursor of all the activity in the “crypto” industry. But more importantly, it is inherently separate from that industry, as both seek different goals. While Bitcoin strives to establish a new financial system, “crypto” aims to improve the existing one.
The dividing line between Bitcoin and “crypto” should be part of Coinbase’s goal to “increase awareness” by leveraging its NBA exposure. However, that will likely not be the case, given that Coinbase is most often focused on establishing a high-time preference casino than empowering people by promoting education on freedom, sovereignty, economics, and Bitcoin.
Coinbase announces multiyear partnership with NBA and WNBA
Major cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has inked a deal with the National Basketball Association, giving the platform the opportunity to educate basketball fans on crypto.
In a Tuesday announcement, Coinbase said it would become the exclusive cryptocurrency platform partner of the National Basketball Association, or NBA, Women’s National Basketball Association, NBA G League, NBA 2K League and USA Basketball as part of a multiyear sponsorship deal. According to the NBA, Coinbase will create “unique content, innovations, activations and experiences” for basketball fans to learn about the crypto space, as well as be a partner of the WNBA Commissioner’s Cup, the USA Basketball men’s and women’s national team exhibition tours and the NBA G League Ignite.
Coinbase chief marketing officer Kate Rouch said the partnership would involve “interactive experiences to engage with the NBA and WNBA’s incredible community and athletes around the world.” The announcement comes as the NBA prepares to start its 2021–2022 season, marking the association’s 75th anniversary.
Related: Fan tokens: Day trading your favorite sports team
According to data from Statista, an average of 1.6 million people watched NBA regular-season games across major networks during the 2019–2020 season. Coinbase said it would be featured during nationally televised NBA games.
Many crypto companies and platforms have formed partnerships with sports organizations across the globe as the space expands and seemingly becomes more profitable as a sponsor. Crypto derivatives exchange FTX announced it had become the official sponsor of Major League Baseball in June and previously struck a deal to
NBA and Coinbase Form Cryptocurrency Partnership
Key Takeaways
- Coinbase will become the NBA’s official crypto platform through a new partnership and sponsorship deal.
- The partnership will also apply to NBA’s other leagues, including its women’s, minor, and e-sports leagues.
- Coinbase will produce content related to the NBA and gain a presence during televised games.
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The National Basketball Association has partnered with Coinbase according to a press release from the basketball group.
Partnership Will Involve Sponsorship Deal
The partnership, which will involve a sponsorship deal, will make Coinbase the official crypto platform of the NBA.
The deal will see Coinbase provide content and experiences related to the NBA. Coinbase will become a presenting partner for some NBA leagues, and it will gain a brand presence on TV basketball games.
The partnership will also apply to the NBA’s women’s league (WNBA), its minor league (G League), its e-sports league (NBA 2K) and its national men’s league (USA Basketball).
It is unclear whether this will translate into the ability for audiences to pay for tickets and merch with cryptocurrency.
Kerry Tatlock of the NBA called Coinbase a “trusted cryptocurrency platform used by millions” and “a natural fit as the NBA’s first-ever partner in this thriving category.”
Coinbase is currently the second-largest exchange by trading volume, with $4 billion traded in the last 24 hours.
Some NBA Teams Already Use Crypto
At least two NBA teams have independently embraced cryptocurrency prior to today’s news. The Dallas Mavericks, under Mark Cuban, is famous for accepting cryptocurrency including Dogecoin as payment for tickets and merchandise.
The Sacramento Kings, meanwhile, began to offer players their salary in Bitcoin this year; it has also mined Ethereum in the past.
This March, team owners formed an advisory group in order to find new ways to integrate blockchain with the basketball league. It is unclear whether today’s news is related to that effort.
The NBA previously partnered with Dapper Labs on Top Shots, a line of NFT collectibles featuring highlights from various players.
Disclaimer: At the time of writing this author held less than $75 of Bitcoin, Ethereum, and altcoins.
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Retro NFT packs drive frenzied Top Shot speculation
Trade volume for NBA Top Shot’s nonfungible tokens (NFT) has skyrocketed over the weekend following the launch of its retro “Run It Back 2005-06” packs on Friday.
According to Crypto Slam, daily volume on NBA Top Shot’s marketplace jumped by more than 440% from $829,520 on Thursday to more than $4.5 million the next day. Saturday also saw more than $4 million worth of tokens trade hands.
NBA Top Shot’s NFTs feature video highlights depicting key moments from the history of professional basketball, with the latest packs celebrating the stars of the 2005–2006 season.
On Sunday, NBA Top Shot tweeted that nearly 10,000 “Run It Back 2005-06” packs had been sold in 24 hours at a rate of seven purchases per minute.
7️⃣ purchases a minute. For the last 24 hours. ⏰
Over the past day, we’ve seen 9,921 purchases of Run It Back 2005-06 Moment™️ Collectibles alone.
Find RIB Moments ➡️ https://t.co/fuCnRDcRJA pic.twitter.com/LcxNHsiwuE
— NBA Top Shot (@nbatopshot) October 17, 2021
The packs started at $169 each, with collectors competing to snag moments depicting basketball legends such as LeBron James and Shaquille O’Neal. NBA Top Shot’s packs feature three tiers of rarity ranging from “common” to “legendary.”
Crypto Slam data shows that the NBA Top Shot marketplace has hosted a whopping $744 million worth of secondary sales since July 2020. NBA Top Shot trade activity peaked during the first quarter of 2021, with $45.7 million worth of trades occurring within 24 hours on Feb. 22.
While more than $200 million worth of NBA Top Shot NFTs changed hands during the months of February and March, the monthly volume has since retraced sharply, with approximately $20 million of trades taking place during September and October.
Related: Top Shot to sell exclusive NFT moments at live basketball games
After its weekend surge, NBA Top Shot is ranked as the third-largest NFT project by daily secondary volume, with more than $2.5 million in tokens trading hands in the last 24 hours, according to Crypto Slam.
Axie Infinity ranks in first place with $18.6 million worth of trades for the past day, while CryptoPunks is second with a 24-hour volume of $6.2 million.
In late September, Dapper Labs, the team behind NBA Top Shot, announced plans to branch out beyond basketball and launch an NFT platform and marketplace in partnership with the National Football League (NFL). Dapper Labs is currently targeting to have completed its first NFL drop by the end of 2021.
Crypto.com Officially Becomes the Philadelphia 76ers Team’s Jersey Patch Partner
Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com announced that it has formally formed a partnership with the Philadelphia 76ers, becoming its official jersey logo-designated sponsor.
The Crypto.com logo will appear on the left shoulder of all four 76ers jerseys in the new season.
In the next regular season against the New Orleans Pelicans on October 20, the new jersey with the Crypto.com logo will officially debut on that day.
It is reported that this is the first cooperation with an NBA team with more than 10 million cryptocurrency exchanges, with a total transaction volume of more than 400 million U.S. dollars.
According to the jersey logo partner agreement, crypto.com will use its expertise to launch the first non-fungible token (NFT) in team history for the 76ers.
Fans can purchase non-fungible tokens of Philadelphia 76ers through Crypto.com NFT, a newly launched NFT trading platform focusing on art, design, entertainment, and sports.
President of Business Operations Chris Heck from the 76ers team said that this cooperation would jointly change the pattern of cryptocurrency entering the sports world and noted that crypto.com is what they have always thought of as creative, innovative partnerships.
Kris Marszalek, the co-founder and CEO of Crypto.com, said that:
“The NBA is one of the most popular leagues in the world, and the 76ers were an obvious choice. Together we’re going to create integrated experiences for fans everywhere; our patch and court integrations are just the beginning.”
Crypto.com’s cooperation with NBA teams is not just the beginning of its entry into the sports field. As early as this March, Crypto.com signed a one-year sponsorship agreement with the Montreal Canadiens of the NHL.
Last week,Crypto.com reached 3-year cooperation with Paris Saint-Germain worth 29.5 million to 35.4 million U.S. dollars. As reported by Blockchain. News on June 30, Crypto.com has paired with Formula1 as its Global Partner.
Image source: Shutterstock
Google Partners With Dapper Labs to Aid the Growth of Web3.0
American search engine giant Google has announced its partnership with Canadian-based blockchain firm, Dapper Labs to help provide the infrastructural capability needed for the scalability of the latter firm in its bid to advance Web3.0.
As reported by Forbes, the move marks one of the broad arrays of partnerships that the tech giant has in store to engage with the blockchain world, and the current deal with Dapper Labs is billed to span for multiple years.
The deal will feature Google Cloud will act as a network operator, offering its infrastructure to help Flow scale. This will imply that in addition to the more than 50 applications that currently make the Flow Blockchain their home, more than 2,000 developers are building on the Flow network. According to Dapper Labs’ CEO Roham Gharegozlou, the developers will be able to “connect to Flow access nodes at lower latency through Google’s suite of cloud services.”
Drawing on the environmental impacts of blockchain mining, the vice president of Google Cloud North America, Janet Kennedy, said the crypto mining will not be permitted but that developers will have the choice to choose which region powers their nodes based on the energy consumption of that region.
“It’s really about helping them with rapid and sustainable growth,” says Kennedy. “Blockchain technology is becoming more and more mainstream. Such companies like Dapper need scalable, secure infrastructure to grow their business, and even more importantly, support their networks.”
Dapper Labs is amongst the most iconic blockchain startups that came into the limelight with the launch of CryptoKitties back in September 2019. Also renowned for creating the Flow Blockchcian network, which powers the emergence of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), Dapper Labs’ core project also spans the NBA Top Shot marketplace. This outfit has grossed over $700,000 million in sales with over 600,000 active wallets.
The Dapper Labs partnership with Google will further streamline the connectivity for developers who can easily connect to the company’s software when compared with the other cloud infrastructures available today.
Image source: Shutterstock
NBA Legend Stephen Curry Partners With Bitcoin Exchange FTX
Bitcoin and crypto exchange FTX has announced a long-term partnership with NBA superstar Stephen Curry.
Bitcoin and crypto exchange FTX has announced a long-term partnership with NBA superstar Stephen Curry.
As a global ambassador, Curry will receive an equity stake in FTX.com and his foundation, Eat.Learn.Play, will partner with the firm for charitable initiatives.
“I’m excited to partner with a company that demystifies the crypto space and eliminates the intimidation factor for first-time users,” Curry said. “FTX is like minded when it comes to giving back to the community in meaningful ways and I can’t wait to see what we can achieve together.”
The partnership announcement comes just hours after Stephen Curry tweeted, “Just getting started in the crypto game…y’all got any advice??”
The partnership marks the Golden State Warriors NBA champion’s first venture into Bitcoin. Additionally, FTX has committed to providing an annual charitable contribution to Stephen and Ayesha Curry’s foundation, Eat.Learn.Play.
Sam Bankman-Fried, CEO of FTX, commented, “After meeting and speaking with Stephen, it was clear that he is a seamless fit for FTX. His tireless commitment to charity alongside a ferocious work ethic to become the greatest in any arena he steps foot in, whether it is basketball, investing or business, perfectly align with FTX’s core values. I look forward to working together with Stephen to create a positive impact for those who need it most in the world.”
It is becoming more and more common for major professional athletes to find ways to be paid in Bitcoin and to partner with Bitcoin-adjacent companies. Just last month, seven-time UEFA Champions League winner AC Milan struck a multi-year partnership with BitMex to become their first-ever official sleeve partner as well as their official Bitcoin trading partner.
Back in May, Toronto FC forward Ifunanyachi Achara converted part of his pro soccer salary to Bitcoin and sent BTC remittances to family in Nigeria.
In late 2020, NFL Tackle Russel Okung and Strike announced a partnership that will pay a sizable portion of Okung’s $13MM NFL in Bitcoin.
The massive influence and online following professional athletes enjoy is a great means of spreading Bitcoin adoption.
Mark Cuban’s Dallas Mavericks offer cashback rewards on Dogecoin purchases
Dallas Mavericks, Mark Cuban’s NBA franchise, started a cashback rewards program to incentivize merchandise and ticket payments in Dogecoin (DOGE).
The rewards program is dubbed “Mavs Cryptomania,” and customers who spend more than $150 worth of Dogecoin in one transaction will receive a $25 e-gift card that they can use for online purchases in the Dallas Mavs shop.
The program is slated to finish on September 30. At the time of writing, users will need to outlay 505 Doge in order to receive the e-gift card.
The Mavs started accepting DOGE for payments back in March and were also one of the first NBA franchises to accept Bitcoin (BTC) payments for tickets and merchandise back in 2019.
Cuban is a major Dogecoin proponent and stated in April that while the coin started as a joke, it is “becoming a digital currency” due to its increasing adoption rate.
The billionaire investor stated in May that Dogecoin had outperformed other crypto assets in terms of merchandise purchases, as he noted that “we sell more Mavs merchandise for DOGE on a typical day […] than we did in a year with BTC or ETH.”
Cuban has become a prominent figure in crypto and blockchain tech in 2021 and has backed various crypto and blockchain projects such as Ethereum-based scaling solution Polygon, NFT protocol Alethea AI and NFT marketplace providers Genius, to name a few.
The Mavs owner recently fired back in response to Donald Trump’s latest FUD in which he suggested that Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies were a “disaster waiting to happen.”
Related: Doge meme hits $220M valuation, as Sotheby’s Bored Apes auction is tipped to fetch $18M
Senior NBA analyst Bill Ingram
Crypto Adoption: Mark Cuban Selects Next Digital Payment Option for Dallas Mavericks Fans
Dallas Mavericks fans now have a new crypto option to purchase team merchandise with.
Supporters of the professional basketball organization can now use Litecoin (LTC) for online store purchases, according to Mark Cuban, the billionaire owner of the franchise.
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Cuban is an outspoken supporter of multiple crypto projects, and his team has been an early adopter of digital assets. By March of this year, the Mavs were already supporting payments made with Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Ethereum (ETH), USD Coin (USDC), Gemini Dollar (GUSD), Paxos Standard (PAX), Binance USD (BUSD) and Dogecoin (DOGE).
Cuban has been particularly bullish on DOGE, telling CNBC earlier this month that the asset was carving out a niche that gives it an edge over other cryptocurrencies. Last week, he tweeted that the Mavericks were launching a summer merch sale with “special pricing” for customers paying in Dogecoin.
Coming soon to https://t.co/VUydpLFzGh a summer merch sale with special pricing for those who pay with @dogecoin !!! 🚀🚀🚀
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) August 13, 2021
This week, Litecoin’s official Twitter account posted a suggestion for Cuban, implying the Mavericks owner could get extra business using LTC.
Cuban, who was tagged in Litecoin’s post, responded within a few hours.
You can buy all the @dallasmavs merch you want at @dallasmavsshop with Litecoin. Just pick Litecoin when you check out ! Tell your friends !
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) August 17, 2021
Cuban implied on Twitter last week that some of his companies allow payments “in any crypto.” He didn’t clarify whether or not this flexibility applied to the Mavericks organization.
“I don’t shill Doge. I shill the products and services of my companies. Where we allow people to pay in ANY crypto, 95% of the sales are in DOGE.”
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Featured Image: Shutterstock/Oleksii Sidorov