[ad_1]
“Crypto? Oh, that’s right, cryptocurrencies. Those fake digital coins, right? I remember seeing them at last year’s Super Bowl. Larry David was in one. I thought that commercial was pretty funny. Say, how is that whole crypto thing doing?”
Thank you for your question, random citizen. Well, to answer your question: not too well, unfortunately. Indeed, it seems the major crypto companies that made such a big splash during last year’s big game are either too bankrupt to possibly afford a multi-million dollar ad spot in this weekend’s game of the Kansas City Chiefs against the Philadelphia Eagles, or they would rather not put too much attention to themselves.
Mark Evans, Fox Sports’ VP of ad sales, told AP earlier this week that there will be “zero representation” for crypto companies during the day of Super Bowl LVII this Sunday. According to Evans, there were two crypto companies already booked for commercials this year, but after FTX collapsed and declared bankruptcy, and after its CEO Sam Bankman-Fried was indicted on federal fraud charges, those two unnamed companies backed out.
Super Bowl 2022 was nicknamed the “Crypto Bowl” for the number of crypto companies buying ads. Coinbase, Crypto.com, eToro, and of course FTX, all ran commercials during the big game. Other companies like Bitbuy and Binance also ran ads concurrently with last year’s Los Angeles Rams victory.
Crypto.com’s commercial had actor Matt Damon implying that anyone who wasn’t buying into crypto was missing out, and that “fortune favors the brave.” FTX, meanwhile, got Curb Your Enthusiasm star Larry David acting out history’s worst curmudgeon, all while somehow equating crypto to great inventions like the wheel, or the lightbulb. That is to say, all these ads feel that much more moronic a year since they first came out, after months of crypto prices lying at the bottom of the proverbial sink.
And just a few months after Super Bowl LVI, the crypto economy had its first crash thanks to the demise of the Terra/Luna crypto ecosystem. Although it was the FTX debacle that truly gave the entire crypto community a bad name. Politicians that once supported FTX are now scrambling to save face, and other crypto exchanges like Binance have desperately tried to claim it will not end up like its former rival.
Super Bowl is chaotic enough, but there’s enough time before the first kickoff for us to reflect on these “Crypto Bowl” alumni and where they are now.
[ad_2]
Source link