Binance has upgraded its fan token program to allow holders to redeem points for meet and greets and dinners with their favorite athletes.
The new Fan Club program also allows owners to vote in team decisions like kit designs, their teams’ warm-up music, and motivational messages before a game.
Binance Fan Tokens the Latest Foray Into Sporting Arena
Token holders can vote on how to interact with sports teams, including Italian football club SS Lazio, Portuguese footballers FC Porto, and BWT Alpine F1. They can also redeem points to win dinners with their favorite sporting stars, according to Cointelegraph.
Last year, FC Porto fans chose the location of a meet and greet, while BWT Alpine Fans asked the team to film a viral football challenge. The crypto exchange was also the shirt sponsor for Italian footballing giants SS Lazio during the team’s 2021 season.
Binance has been growing its presence in the football industry, becoming the exclusive crypto sponsor of the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon. The Confederation of African Football also enlisted Binance to promote the tournament’s Assist of the Day, Binance Assist of the Week, and Binance Assist of the Tournament media segments across CAF’s social media channels.
The exchange partnered with Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo to create and market an exclusive NFT collection for the footballer on the BNB Chain amid the footballer’s controversial exit from former club Manchester United late last year. The NFT collection’s Super Rare and Super Super Rare tiers topped the BNB chain’s seven-day transaction volume in early Nov. 2022.
Binance paid Italian football team Napoli $32 million to become the team’s shirt sponsor at the peak of the 2021 bull market in Oct. 2021.
New Advertising Rules Could Crash Marketing Blitz
Binance joins a growing cohort of crypto firms intent on using Web 3 technologies to increase brand awareness among sports fans.
Several firms, including exchanges Crypto.com and Coinbase Global, inked lucrative deals with the Formula One and the National Basketball Association last year. Before its collapse in November last year, Bahamian exchange FTX signed a multi-year deal to rename the home court of NBA team LA Lakers to the FTX Arena.
But the growing scrutiny of crypto firms, especially in the U.S., as well as recent clampdowns on crypto advertising in certain countries, could slow the fan token gravy train in 2023.
In January 2023, South Africa’s Advertising Regulatory Board established new guidelines to curtail crypto promotions by social media influencers. It also mandates that crypto advertisers warn consumers that they could lose their capital when they invest in crypto.
The upcoming European Markets-in-Crypto assets bill will bring sweeping changes to crypto regulations across its 27 member states. The bill, while awaiting two votes by the European Council and Parliament before it gets added to the Official Journal of the European Union, will charge crypto influencers with market manipulation if they do not disclose possible conflicts of interest.
Last year, the U.K.’s Advertising Standards Authority upheld a ruling against English football club Arsenal FC for offering its fan tokens without warning fans about the risks. The team provided its fan tokens through the Socios platform, underpinned by the Chiliz blockchain.
For Be[In]Crypto’s latest Bitcoin (BTC) analysis, click here.
Disclaimer
BeInCrypto has reached out to company or individual involved in the story to get an official statement about the recent developments, but it has yet to hear back.
