After a frosty couple of years in the financial wilderness, it feels as though investors and retail traders are interested in Bitcoin and the cryptocurrency industry once again. For those maximalists who have been convinced that another bull run has been on the horizon, even after the disastrous crash of FTX in 2022, their committed stance and steadfast belief that the industry would soon pick up again appears to have paid dividends.
It feels like that was a whole other lifetime ago now, especially for those who have diamond-handed their way to the recent all-time highs that have seen Bitcoin soar past $98,000 towards a $3.21tn market cap. This signals a hugely bullish trend as the market gears up for 2025. With trillions of dollars anticipated to flow into crypto over the next 12 months, many industries are looking to siphon off some of this action for themselves, including many subdivisions of the equally prosperous sports industry.
Sports Betting Trends
We can’t discuss the intersection of cryptocurrency and sports without addressing sports betting. Both these markets have been moving in a long-term positive trajectory for well over a decade, and now that cryptocurrency is on the verge of reaching undiscovered ranges, sports betting companies are more than willing to match this widespread interest by facilitating the increasing numbers of users wanting to bet using their crypto wallets.
Playing at one of the sportsbooks with crypto hasn’t just become one of the leading use cases that is helping to fuel mass adoption; it’s one of the leading ways users can try out cryptocurrency in traditional markets they understand. Often, the question asked by those who have not taken the time to study cryptocurrency or don’t understand it is how they can turn cryptocurrency into real money. One of the easiest and most obvious to explain is sports betting.
As long as both markets continue on an upward trend, this question will be asked more often, and the number of sportsbooks allowing users to bet with prominent cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin or smaller altcoins like Solana and XRP will continue to increase in popularity.
A growth in sponsorship?
There has been a whole range of sponsors over the years, and many industries are trying their hand at a broad range of sports sponsorships. It wouldn’t be the first time the cryptocurrency industry has moved into sports sponsorships. During the 2021 bull run, when altcoins soared in value, their exposure to a crossover audience marked the top of their range. Elon Musk’s appearance on SNL proved to be the dagger in the heart of Dogecoin’s price, which plummeted from its all-time high, dropping by over 25%.
While this wasn’t technically a sponsorship, Musk’s endorsement of Dogecoin almost acted like one for months. His involvement pushed the price up thousands of percent, resulting in one of the biggest investment returns anywhere in cryptocurrency.
Some other companies were more astute, searching for blue-chip sporting brands and seeking stadium and equipment sponsorships. Despite the smell that still lingers due to the massive fraud that was taking place at FTX and the subsequent multibillion-dollar market crash, there is a creeping demand for sporting brands looking to get involved again in the world of sports sponsorship. The hugely positive price action is likely to trickle down and inspire sporting companies, brands and individuals to sponsor these products or currencies once again.
Fan Engagement Tools
Sports franchises and clubs using cryptocurrencies and tokenizing their club stores has been a process that initially started during the last bull run. Many of the world’s biggest sporting brands and teams have used cryptocurrency and blockchain innovations, including NFTs, as a symbol of fan memorabilia ownership and player cards. This idea has been successful in both the NFL and European soccer markets.
NFTs have been leading this charge, but some of the top European teams with fan tokens include PSG, Juventus, AC Milan and Barcelona. Although these four are already on board and are four of the biggest clubs in Europe, increasing demand for cryptocurrency will result in more fans enquiring directly with their clubs about fan tokens. This is likely to result in more clubs releasing their own versions over the next 12 months.
Who knows? Some sports clubs and franchises may begin accepting cryptocurrency payments for tickets and in-game purchases or allow customers to pay for corporate hospitality using their digital assets; there are a multitude of potential avenues. Given how the landscape and appetite for cryptocurrency have changed significantly within a few short weeks in late 2024, we might see teams in the US roll out this idea.
Final Thoughts
With cryptocurrency and blockchain companies already making solid inroads into the sporting world since 2017, it feels like the stage is set for it to grow significantly in 2025. Nobody knows what this will look like exactly. My guess is that there’ll be an array of shirt sponsors, potential stadium naming rights and maybe even prominent sporting leagues attaching their names to prominent projects, exchanges or companies that specialize in cryptocurrency.
Crypto companies have already established sponsorships and connections with prominent sporting organizations such as the UFC, Formula 1 and European football teams like Tottenham Hotspur and Atletico Madrid. We’re likely to see a strong correlation here, as these patterns are often cyclical, but they also boil down to which companies offer these sporting companies the most money for sponsorship. Without sounding reductive, it is business, and that’s what it ultimately boils down to at the end of the day.
The future looks extremely bright now that cryptocurrency is experiencing new all-time highs. It is all the rage again in traditional and institutional finance. Provided this trend doesn’t reverse and continues to reach dizzying new ranges of price discovery, we can expect to see a lot more implementation in sports via sponsorships and NFTs. Ultimately, any crypto project with enough capital to attract some prominent organizations to the table could potentially look toward the sports sector to enhance their project’s visibility.
Read Also: How Blockchain Betting Is Empowering The Bettors?
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