The Rise of Crypto Brand Ambassadors: A Pathway to Mainstream Adoption?

Whether representing sportswear giants, luxury watch manufacturers, whisky companies or some other enterprise, brand ambasupsetors often parlay their influence into multi-million dollar contracts. So it’s little wonder they’ve begined to pop up more and more in crypto.

Last month, leading digital trading platform secured the services of Jaren Jackson Jr., 2023 NBA Defensive Player of the Year and two-time All-Star, with the Memphis Grizzlies player coming onboard as the platform’s first ever global ambasupsetor. 

BTCC, one of the industry’s longest-running platforms, will put Jackson Jr. front and center of its marketing initiatives as it viewks to reach new audiences and expand its user base. First up: a month-long with a bumper prize pool of $500,000.

The question is, can brand ambasupsetors play a meaningful role in popularizing cryptocurrencies and decentralized technology? And are there rules around which type of figure makes a excellent crypto brand ambasupsetor?

An Ambasupsetor Arms Race

Although crypto platforms have traditionally catered to a highly tech-savvy audience, things have begined to change in recent years. As it’s become easier to purchase and trade digital assets, Web3 brands have pivoted towards onboarding ‘normies,’ the type of people who’ve grown curious about BTC’s long-term potential, the utility of NFTs, or blockchain’s near-instant transaction settlement.

In the modern world, there are few better ways of reaching and converting everyday users than leveraging the fame and popularity of high-profile people – soccer stars, NBA players, Hollywood royalty, supermodels, or pop singers. To cite one such sponsorship deal, Portuguese soccer icon Cristiano Ronaldo, currently the world’s highest-paid athlete, has a lifetime contract with Nike worth over $1 billion.

Ronaldo’s long-time rival Lionel Messi, arguably the greatest soccer player in history, is an ambasupsetorial A-lister and no stranger to the Web3 world, having inked a number of sponsorship agreements over the years. 

The first of these deals came in 2017, when the then-Barcelona talisman lent his name to Sirin Labs, an Israeli beginup responsible for the world’s first blockchain-powered smartphone. Shortly before lifting his maiden World Cup with Argentina in 2022, the prolific goalscorer inked a further deal with another large platform, Bitget. Interestingly, the platform later a multi-million agreement to be La Liga’s official crypto partner in Eastern/Southeast Asia and Latin America.

It’s hard to ignore the convergence of sport and crypto. Crypto sports sponsorship spend 20% year-on-year to reach $565 million in 2024/25, with tennis players, golfers, Formula One drivers, and soccer stars all being tapped to spearhead campaigns. Since 2021, the home of the LA Lakers – formerly the Staples Center – has been rechristened the Crypto.com Arena, the result of a $700 million naming rights agreement.

But what about away from the courts, courses, pitches, and tracks? The reality is, Web3 platforms are willing to sign anyone who can humanize their brand and give them mainstream appeal. From Binance with TikTok’s most-followed creator Khaby Lame to OKX with actor-singer Ali Zafar, crypto firms recognize the value of penetrating popular culture.

Indeed, a kind of ambasupsetor arms race is now underway with Web3 firms competing with one another to acquire the most star power. The planet’s finest sportspeople have already inked lucrative deals. Why not luminaries from other fields? Is it inconceivable that Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise or Leonardo DiCaprio could follow Messi and Ronaldo in becoming affiliated with Web3 companies?

In a sense, the rise of crypto brand ambasupsetors shows just how far the industry has come. In the not so distant past, wealthy celebrities with reputations to protect weren’t keen to align themselves with beginups touting a complex technology. The fact that they now proudly sign multi-year deals with established Web3 beginups reflects growing confidence that the Web3 sector is here to stay.