Binance is signing famous football player Cristiano Ronaldo for an exclusive multi-year NFT partnership. Binance will be launching a global promotion aiming to give Ronaldo’s fans an introduction to Web3. Through the partnership, Binance and Cristiano Ronaldo will create a series of NFT collections for sale exclusively on the Binance NFT platform. The first collection is going to be released later this year, featuring designs created in collaboration with Ronaldo.
Binance has been making several heavy investments this year. In February it announced its plans to invest US$200 million in business magazine Forbes in an attempt to go public in New York through a US$630 million tie-up with Magnum Opus Acquisition, a special purpose company. Binance spokesperson had then told MARKETING-INTERACTIVE that Web2 had a profound impact on the media sector, and Binance believes that web3 may have an equally important role to play in the future of journalism and publishing."
Interestingly, the investment came after the cryptocurrency exchange sued Forbes for defamation following an investigation by the latter which alleged that Binance concocted "an elaborate corporate structure" to deliberately deceive and evade bitcoin regulators.
Meanwhile in Asia, Binance Asia Services also ran into regulatory issues in December last year having to withdraw its application for a licence by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to provide cryptocurrency services in Singapore. Binance Asia Services had to cease all operations in the market by 13 February 2022. To that end, all Binance.sg users will be required to close all open positions and withdraw their Singapore dollar and cryptocurrency assets before its closure, Bloomberg reported.
According to The Business Times (BT) , Binance was contemplating after Binance Asia Services' application - backed by Temasek-linked Vertex Ventures - remained in regulatory limbo for months. Binance Asia Services also acquired an 18% stake in Singapore-regulated private securities exchange, Hg Exchange (HGX), in an attempt to help with its regulatory hurdles, as HGX was recently granted a recognised market operator licence from the MAS, BT reported. It had also planned to set up a blockchain innovation hub in Singapore, exploring initiatives such as incubation programmes, blockchain education and further investment opportunities.
Other brands have also scored partnerships with Ronaldo. In 2019, Free Fire , the first self-developed game by Garena, had appointed Cristiano Ronald as its global brand ambassador where users can play as Cristiano Ronaldo in the game, in an all-new character called Chrono. Ronaldo said it is a great feeling having not only a character in Free Fire modelled after him, but also having the whole universe within the game changing along it.
In the same year, Shopee had also appointed Ronaldo as its regional brand ambassador . Ronaldo stared in Shopee's 9.9 TV commercial that premiered on 16 August and aired in all Shopee markets. Fans in the region also got up close and personal with the Portuguese professional footballer via exclusive content provided on Shopee LIVE.
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Garena's Free Fire game taps Cristiano Ronaldo as global brand ambassador
Shopee scores Cristiano Ronaldo as regional brand ambassador
