CashBet is trying to raise the profile of its ICO through a sponsorship deal with Arsenal FC.
News hit press out of the UK this week that Arsenal Football Club has signed an agreement with a blockchain technology company.
An Alternative Route To ICO Promotion
The company in question is CashBet, which is gearing up towards an initial coin offering (ICO) that is set up to raise the funds that the company requires to develop the “only mobile-first platform for real-money, social, and skill-based interactive gaming.”
The deal will see the club promote the company by way of a sponsorship arrangement. As far as specific details of the sponsorship (and, indeed, what the promotion will entail) are concerned, things are pretty murky. In a recent article in The Guardian, three Arsenal players are seen holding a shirt with CashBet printed on the back and a BBC report, available here, suggests that Arsenal FC will promote CashBet (and, specifically, the upcoming CashBet ICO) and the club’s home games.
The implications of this for the wider cryptocurrency space and the ICO space are mixed. Sure, it’s great to see a cryptocurrency picking up some mainstream attention and for CashBet there’s no doubt that the sponsorship will translate to some increased speculative attention surrounding its offering.
That’s why companies sponsor a club, after all.
CashBet Coin Token Sale https://t.co/cPurI968jMhttps://t.co/2XtGYTBwvg
— jahrastar 🇹🇷🇱🇾 (@jahrastar_ivxx) January 24, 2018
The Risk Side Of The Coin
On the other side of the equation, however, the ICO space remains bogged down by fraudulent activity and it’s incredibly difficult to ascertain the chances of success for a company that’s conducting an offering, especially for an unsophisticated participant, based on a company’s website and white paper.
Right now, the success of an ICO (and we’re talking specifically about the ICO here, so success is measured in the hitting or otherwise of its hard cap), seems to be dictated by the marketing budget as opposed to the quality of the company and the development of the product or service for which the funds are being raised.
Time will tell whether this move will prove smart for Arsenal, and CashBet, or not.
Of course, this isn’t the first time we’ve seen a football club attract sponsorship from a cryptocurrency.
Jetcoin sponsored Serie A football team, A.C. ChievoVerona back in 2014 in an attempt to raise its profile in the sector. Jetcoin conducted its own ICO back in mid-2017 and currently trades for just 25% of its then-pricing.
What do you think about this sponsorship? Is it a risky move for Arsenal? Let us know below!
Image courtesy of Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal Football Club