Binance has announced that it will officially be sponsoring this year’s African Cup of Nations (AFCON) in a calculated move that could see it cement its user base to an already receptive African audience.
Kickstarted in 1957, AFCON is the largest international men’s association football competition in Africa and is held after every two years. The competition which is slated between 9th January and 6th February in Cameroon will bring together some 24 participating countries to battle out for the revered championship cup.
Given the prominence of this tournament, some of the best players from 16 premier leagues including Egypt’s Mo Salah, Manchester City’s Riyad Mahrez, and Chelsea’s goalkeeper Edouard Mendy just to name a few will be missing their domestic fixtures to join their African brothers in the tournaments. This is expected to turn the world’s attention to the event with most African countries getting glued to the matches, which is where Binance comes in.
According to CZ who had earlier shared an image of banners in the Olembe Stadium where the games will be held bearing the question “WHO IS BINANCE?”, the sponsorship is all about “bringing sports into crypto, and crypto to the world.”
The Advance Of Binance In Africa
Since launching its global peer-to-peer (P2P) merchant program in January 2020, Binance has been making inroads into the African Market, offering cheaper and fast options for local crypto users to trade and transact crypto in their local currencies. The exchange, which ranks first globally by total daily traded volume, has the largest user base in Africa, seeing an over 2000% growth in users just in 2021.
Despite P2P being its greatest underpinning, this growth is being fuelled by various campaigns including Binance’s free crypto classes which have seen over 400,000 Africans train about the industry. The exchange has also introduced an affiliate program that has helped spread the word to the local market at an impressive rate.
Sports – The Icing On The Cake
In the recent past, however, the exchange has been giving more attention to sports to net fans who, apart from being in their millions, already resonate with high-risk endeavors such as gambling. Various sports clubs including the Italian soccer club Lazio, FC Porto have come under Binance’s wings with others such as FC Barcelona reportedly in talks to onboard.
More crypto companies around the world are pouring billions of dollars into ads and sports sponsorship deals. In November 2021, Crypto.com bought naming rights to the Staples Centre in Los ageless for $700 million and renamed it Crypto.com arena. Recently, FTX announced the sponsorship of four basketball teams including the Golden Gate Warriors; Golden State; and Santa Cruz Warriors with the list going on and on.
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