1 year ago
Australian F1 operator Daniel Ricciardo and his Olympic snowboarder mate Scotty James accidental they ever deliberation agelong and hard astir the risks of promoting the incorrect thing.
And arsenic marque ambassadors for crypto speech OKX, that nary uncertainty was astatine the forefront of their minds erstwhile FTX collapsed and markets crashed — specified months aft they signed on.
The risks past became each excessively evident successful the acres of negative publicity and lawsuits implicit comedian Larry David and NFL backmost Tom Brady’s endorsement deals with FTX.
Even Hollywood bully feline Matt Damon faced blowback from everyone from South Park to Stephen Colbert arsenic a effect of his Superbowl commercialized for Crypto.com, encouraging normies to bargain crypto close earlier the marketplace crash.
Daniel Ricciardo, Haider Rafique and Scotty James onstage astatine Token2049.Crypto already had a beauteous mixed estimation erstwhile Ricciardo signed up successful May 2022, and helium admits it took a portion to get comfy with the idea.
"I've been successful the athletics a agelong clip wherever for sure, a batch of things get enactment successful beforehand of me, which is exciting.”“But you benignant of besides larn erstwhile to accidental ‘no, that's not close for me,’" helium told Cointelegraph astatine Token2049, nursing a fractured manus that has taken him retired of Sunday’s Singapore Grand Prix.
Ricciardo is 1 of the astir fashionable F1 drivers successful the satellite and has a squad that ensures helium doesn't get into blistery water. Minders struck retired nonstop questions astir FTX up of the chat, required support for photos of the interview, and bustled him distant aft 10 minutes for his adjacent appearance.
Trust successful crypto wavered aft FTX blow-up
OKX’s strategy to go the “first crypto manner brand” was driven by Chief Marketing Officer Haider Rafique. The cryptexchange signed multi-million dollar sponsorship deals with sports franchises similar F1 squad McLaren and United Kingdom Premier League squad Manchester United.
— OKX (@okx) August 28, 2023"We surely get those calls," Rafique said, "from McLaren oregon Man City. ‘Hey, is everything each close implicit there? Like the manufacture looks a small shaky?’ And we person to recognize and enactment ourselves successful their shoes and respond accordingly." He says the exchange’s monthly impervious of reserves reports are a large origin successful gaining trust.
But adjacent aft getting his aged squad connected committee (Ricciardo present drives for AlphaTauri) Rafique inactive needed to summation the F1 driver's trust. “It wasn't a transactional relationship, it was a idiosyncratic relationship,” helium said.
Ricciardo explained it worked arsenic Rafique did “a truly bully occupation to bring america successful connected idiosyncratic level to amended america and pass us.”
“I was funny and wanted to larn — I had a batch of comfortableness going successful with them. I've seen capable present to cognize that this is bully for maine and it's harmless for maine to benignant of get progressive successful this."Unfortunately, arsenic Damon’s ill-fated Crypto.com woody shows, owed diligence tin lone instrumentality you truthful far. The speech wasn’t accused of thing and didn’t illness but Damon’s estimation took a deed arsenic markets crashed.
"The happening that was astir apt blowback for them was the connection and it was poorly timed: ‘Fortune favours the brave’ and past the brave crashed," said Rafique.
Related: OKX crypto speech enters last mentation signifier of Hong Kong VASP licence application
As a mate of Ricciardo’s, four-time Olympian Scott James already had a idiosyncratic transportation erstwhile helium signed connected with OKX and was already funny successful NFTs. But it inactive would person been a daze erstwhile FTX collapsed a period later.
Fans enactment up to get pics with Daniel Ricciardo and Scotty James astatine Token2049 "Until you recognize thing 100% astatine its afloat capacity, people you're going to person reservations," helium said, but added that the platform's attempts to simplify and amended astir crypto and trading enactment him astatine ease.
"I built spot implicit clip with doing that and we consciousness beauteous bully astir it,” helium said. “But to accidental 12 months ago, I would accidental the aforesaid thing? No."
James said that snowboarding was a manner prime that appeals to a "young demographic" and crypto is excessively owed to its decentralization.
"I deliberation my procreation and younger than maine are the ones that are truly going to alteration that communicative for investing whether it's successful cryptocurrency oregon different investments moving forward."While the brace joked astir releasing NFTs during their onstage quality astatine Token2049, that’s not going to hap until markets recover, said Rafique.
"For their NFT's it's surely not going to beryllium astir a speculative asset. It's going to beryllium baked into however we tin bring their fans person to them done this plus that they tin own. So I don't deliberation it's going to hap anytime soon.”
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