American crypto exchange Coinbase has announced a new marketing deal with Riot Games, becoming the exclusive crypto exchange and official blockchain partner for both League of Legends and Valorant global esports events.
The multi-year sponsorship deal will debut at the Valorant Masters event in Toronto in June, with Coinbase creating fan engagement opportunities across both games' global esports calendars, including social media campaigns, broadcast integrations, and technical features.
A Coinbase representative declined to disclose the terms of the deal to Decrypt or specify the length, beyond it being a “multi-year” sponsorship deal.
New Coinbase-sponsored in-game segments will include an "Econ Report" for Valorant esports and "Gold Grind" for League of Legends esports, providing viewers with analysis of in-match currency movement and its impact on team strategies.
The collaboration will also include viewer rewards through drops with redeemable emotes and icons, along with promotional opportunities such as all-expenses-paid trips to major competitions.
Coinbase also said in a statement that it will "explore opportunities to share insights and enhance the fan experience through Web3 technology" throughout the season. The representative told Decrypt that no specific plans have been established, but that the exchange is “looking forward to creating some exciting things on the Web3 front with Riot.”
The crypto and esports industries have been intertwined for years, with many prominent esports leagues and teams taking on crypto sponsors, and the technology being harnessed for things like digital collectibles and instant post-event payments to competitors.
Riot Games previously signed a long-term deal with crypto giant FTX, with a seven-year sponsorship announced in August 2021 for its League of Legends Championship Series esports league in North America.
However, FTX collapsed in November 2022, leaving Riot Games without an active crypto sponsor in the time since. According to court documents revealed in 2023, the deal was estimated to be worth approximately $100 million, and structured in a way that the biggest sums were due in later years—which means that Riot may not have received much of the cash.
FTX had also signed a 10-year, $210 million sponsorship deal with naming rights for Team SoloMid (TSM), which went by TSM FTX prior to the exchange’s demise. The end of that deal didn’t cool the team’s crypto ambitions, however, as TSM announced plans to build on blockchain network Avalanche in March 2023.
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