Cash-rich crypto companies are "keen to strike sports sponsorship and endorsement deals" as companies such as Google and Facebook crack down on "crypto adverts on their platforms," according to Oscar Williams-Grut of BUSINESS INSIDER. Polish cryptocurrency exchange CoinDeal last week struck a deal to become a shirt sponsor of EPL side Wolverhampton Wanderers. Arsenal "struck a similar crypto sponsorship deal in January of this year." Van Hawke Sports Founder & CEO Sunny Singh said, "It's coming, it's definitely coming. It's already happening and I think we will see more of these deals going forward." Singh spent 10 years in the foreign exchange industry and left FX company LMAX earlier this year to set up Van Hawke, a "specialist sports marketing company" catering to FX and crypto. He said, "Where crypto is now, in terms of the advertising restrictions, is where FX effectively was 10 years ago straight after the financial crisis, where regulation was heavily imposed as to what could be done." While there is no regulation on cryptocurrency advertising in most parts of the world, many major online platforms have "either banned" or made tight rules around advertising on their "platforms after a series of high-profile scams." Google and Facebook have "tightened regulations," while Reddit has been screening crypto ads since '16. Singh: "They're now looking at sports [as a way] in which they can reach that mass appeal" (BUSINESS INSIDER, 7/14).
