Binance Puts Ronaldo NFTs in Spotlight With First-Ever Global Ad Campaign

Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by volume, has launched a global marketing campaign with Portuguese soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo in honor of his inaugural non-fungible token (NFT) launch.

The NFT collection, named the CR7 NFT Collection, is the first in a series of drops heralding Ronaldo's legacy. The NFTs, which launched exclusively on Binance's NFT marketplace on Friday, feature seven animated figures depicting iconic moments from his career, organized into four rarity levels. The auction for the 45 highest-value NFTs will be available for auction for 24 hours, with bidding prices for the rarest five NFTs starting at 10,000 BUSD. (BUSD is a U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoin.)

The NFT tiers come with exclusive perks such as a personal message from Ronaldo, autographed merchandise, guaranteed access for future drops and free "mystery boxes" for new signups.

The 60-second spot is running across TV, digital and social channels across 74 countries and 28 languages, Ad Age said. The move comes as cryptocurrency exchange FTX, a crypto exchange competitor to Binance, filed for bankruptcy last week after facing insolvency issues. Binance CEO Changpeng "CZ" Zhao, who had a well-documented rivalry with former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, briefly considered stepping in to save FTX but ultimately scrapped the deal.

While Binance did not directly address the situation with FTX, it offered a veiled barb at the failed exchange. "There are bad players in our industry, but it’s important to know that there are also creators and innovators, who are working hard to build valuable products and services in Web3," He Yi, co-founder and chief marketing officer of Binance, told Ad Age.