In 2025, major names like Coinbase, Gate.io, and Tether have signed a series of sponsorship deals with sports organizations from F1 racing to football, MMA, and snooker.
Crypto companies "rush" to sponsor the sports industry in 2025
According to a report from Financial Times citing data from SportQuake, in just the first 2 months of 2025, there were 22 sports sponsorship deals with an average value of $4.3 million per contract, a significant increase from 18 deals in the same period last year with an average of $2.6 million.
This is a clear sign that crypto companies are actively expanding their brand recognition through top sports such as football, Formula 1 (F1) racing, MMA, and snooker.
Football remains one of the most attractive sectors for crypto companies in the race to expand their brands. XBO.com, a rising crypto exchange, has quickly made its mark by becoming the official sponsor of the Argentina national football team, the current World Cup champions.
XBO .com is now the official global sponsor of the Argentina National Team for 2025! This partnership connects football fans with crypto through exclusive rewards, promotions & unique experiences.
— Finance Magnates (@financemagnates) February 20, 2025
Read more: https://t.co/JRbCSCx8FJ#FinanceMagnates #CryptoExchange #FootballNews pic.twitter.com/sy6m7GHUdL
In addition, Tether, the world's largest stablecoin issuer, is also actively participating in this investment wave. On February 14th, Tether officially announced a $50 million investment to acquire 5% of the shares of Juventus, the most successful football club in Italy. This is not only a financial transaction but also reflects Tether's long-term strategy of integrating crypto into the sports industry. CEO Paolo Ardoino emphasized:
"Tether will be a pioneer in merging digital assets, artificial intelligence (AI), and biotechnology with traditional sports, creating global-scale changes."
These deals not only help crypto companies increase their brand recognition but also open up opportunities to explore a potential market with hundreds of millions of football fans worldwide.
Not only in football, but crypto companies are also expanding their presence in F1 racing, one of the sports with the largest global viewership. The crypto exchange Coinbase recently signed a sponsorship deal with the Aston Martin Aramco F1 team, with the entire contract value paid in stablecoin. In return, the exchange's logo has been prominently displayed on the AMR25, the team's newly launched race car.
This will be a season to remember.
— Coinbase 🛡️ (@coinbase) February 14, 2025
See you at the track @AstonMartinF1. pic.twitter.com/0egkFZ0WxE
Gate.io is also not lagging behind, partnering with Oracle Red Bull Racing, one of the strongest F1 teams. This agreement allows Gate.io's logo to appear not only on the race car but also on the team's uniforms and, notably, on the helmet of world champion Max Verstappen. CEO Dr. Lin Han could not hide his excitement about this deal:
"Blockchain is expanding beyond the financial sector, and we are eager to explore the ways this technology can connect with global industries like F1 racing."
🚨 A New Era: #Gateio 🤝 @redbullracinghttps://t.co/8kWqgEeplL has officially partnered with Oracle Red Bull Racing as its exclusive crypto exchange partner! 🏎️💨
— Gate.io (@gate_io) February 10, 2025
Together, we'll ignite the upcoming season with #Web3 tech, bringing speed and passion to the digital era!
Learn… pic.twitter.com/NuLBsR7d91
- Sportsbet.io has secured the title sponsorship for the Snooker Players Championship, as well as two other major tournaments.
- Cloudbet has signed a multi-year contract with the Professional Fighters League (PFL), the rapidly growing MMA league in the US.
In the basketball sector, Coinbase is clearly demonstrating its ambition to expand its influence in the NBA, the most captivating basketball league in the world. The clearest evidence is that on February 21st, the exchange hosted the NBA Crossover event, which gathered over 17,000 fans and featured top NBA stars. The grand scale of the event not only affirms Coinbase's commitment to basketball but also made a powerful impression on the American sports fan community.
That's a wrap on NBA Crossover, where we brought thousands of people on-court and onchain, thanks to our 17,000-pound friend.
— Coinbase 🛡️ (@coinbase) February 20, 2025
Relive some of the best moments.
And thanks for playing, San Francisco. pic.twitter.com/KRl3UT95fN
However, not all sporting events witness the massive presence of Crypto brands. Super Bowl LIX (2025) - the iconic American sports cultural event - is no longer the main stage for Crypto ads as it was in 2022. Previously, the Super Bowl had been referred to as the "Crypto Bowl", when names like FTX, Crypto.com and Coinbase spent millions of dollars to appear on television, leveraging the appeal of the tournament to reach hundreds of millions of viewers.
The fact that Crypto companies "avoided" this year's Super Bowl may stem from the bitter lesson called FTX. FTX was once one of the biggest sponsors of sports, owning a long list of partnership contracts with major teams and tournaments. However, when this exchange collapsed, billions of dollars from small investors were blown away, and the entire Crypto industry was seriously affected in terms of reputation.
Although it had a period of stagnation after the FTX shock, the wave of sports sponsorship from Crypto companies is still strongly booming in 2025. Currently, leading Crypto companies like Binance, Crypto.com, OKX, Bitget,... have established a series of partnership contracts with football clubs, F1 racing, UFC, NBA and eSports. Notably, even memecoin projects like Floki are not out of the game when becoming a sponsor of Nottingham Forest club.
Top names like Manchester United, PSG, Juventus, NBA or UFC are now not only representing traditional sports brands, but have also become symbols of the convergence between sports and Blockchain technology.
Not only with sports teams or tournaments, Crypto companies are also actively cooperating with the world's top superstars to expand their influence. Cristiano Ronaldo has become the brand ambassador for Binance since 2022, while the sports NFT platform Sorare has successfully signed a contract with Kylian Mbappé.
Compiled by Coin68
