Engagement between the cryptocurrency space and esports sector is at an all time high, as blockchain and crypto technology is increasingly leveraged by actors in well established industries.
A notable recent development explored on this week’s ESI Digest was the announcement that esports team Fnatic link with cryptocurrency exchange platform Crypto.com in a £11 million partnership ($15 million).
As a result of the agreement, Crypto.com’s logo will feature on the collarbone of Fnatic’s team jerseys, whilst the team will also offer its fans rewards and experiences for Crypto.com users purchasing its merchandise.
The exchange will also cooperate on activations with Fnatic’s esports teams players and creators, including ‘collaborative storytelling’ with existing Crypto.com partners, gaming content, branded in-game experiences and physical events.
Additionally, the duo will offer exclusive Fnatic NFTs in the near future, as well as financial literacy and crypto education opportunities for fans who are unfamiliar with the crypto-space.
Previous linkups between the sectors have seen the League of Legends Championship Series (LCS) enter into a seven-year partnership with FTX, naming the firm its official cryptocurrency exchange partner.
Commuting on the most recent partnership, Kerry Waananen, Head of Multimedia Content, Esports Insider, observed: “2021 has seen a deluge of partnerships between esports companies and cryptocurrency exchanges.
“Now, let’s not let comparison be the thief of joy, but the TSM and FTX makes more per year than the entirety of the five year deal between Fnatic and Crypto.com, but Fnatic is still Fnatic and TSM is still TSM, and Fnatic just gained more fanatics.”
Additional esports developments saw GGPredict, the Warsaw-based analytics firm, support its plans for North American and Scandinavian expansion via a $1 million funding round, in addition to funding greater use of technologies such as AI.
The investment saw contributions from ffVC Tech & Gaming, TJD and Pitango Ventures, whilst Przemysław Siemaszko, CEO of GGPredict, remarked: “While working on GGPredict with over 25,000 players, we’ve noticed that most of our customers spend more than 20 hours a week playing Counter-Strike.”
Sharing his own views, Waananen added: “Esports data is such an important asset to so many different businesses in the sector, and creative uses of this data when mixed with machine learning or automation or AI and data science, and now blockchain technologies, seem to be a winning combination for startups in esports.”
