Coinbase made the first big crypto splash during this year's Super Bowl after the company aired a bold commercial that consisted of nothing but a QR code floating around the screen for 60 seconds.
The ad also quickly flashed a Coinbase URL at the end, leading to a website displaying a promotion for $15 in free Bitcoin for new customers who sign up in the next two days.
Coinbase Bitcoin giveaway page that the company's Super Bowl ad QR code led to.
The Coinbase commercial appeared to be a success—perhaps too much of one. Shortly after it aired, people tweeted that the company's site and app had crashed.
The outage didn't last long as Coinbase site was up a few minutes later, including its homepage that displayed the giveaway promotion along with messages like "Less Talk, More Bitcoin" and "WAGMI."
@coinbase just saw more traffic than we've ever encountered, but our teams pulled together and only had to throttle traffic for a few minutes. We are now back and ready for you at https://t.co/ZUJqRlnZPH. Humbled to have been witness to this. #WAGMI
Meanwhile, the ad itself has elicited plenty of buzz on social media, something that an editor at AdWeek noted will no doubt please Coinbase's marketing team:
Others noted the ad's ultra-low production costs compared to a typical Super Bowl commercial. And one crypto commentator called attention to Coinbase's technical meltdown, but praised the ad as clever and original:
Finally, the ad appeared to make a special impact with a certain market segment that, unfortunately for Coinbase, don't buy crypto. Behold this dog's fascination with the floating QR code:
The Coinbase ad was hardly the only crypto ad to air. Rival FTX also made its Super Bowl debut with a commercial featuring comedian Larry David, while ads by Bud Light and Turbo Tax also mentioned cryptocurrency.
Decrypt has a full rundown of all things crypto taking place during this year's big game. Check out our live blog for timely updates.
Daily Debrief Newsletter
Start every day with the top news stories right now, plus original features, a podcast, videos and more.
Brandon Lutnick, son of U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, is creating a multibillion-dollar Bitcoin acquisition vehicle in partnership with SoftBank, Tether, and Bitfinex, the Financial Times reported Tuesday.
The new venture, called 21 Capital, will receive $3 billion in Bitcoin from its partners—$1.5 billion from Tether, $900 million from SoftBank, and $600 million from Bitfinex, according to three people briefed on the matter, as cited by the Financial Times.
Decrypt has reached out to...
AI-powered real estate platform Janover will now go by DeFi Development Corporation as the company signals its commitment to crypto with a name and ticker change following a recent Solana-driven pivot.
The publicly traded firm, which will go by DFDV on the Nasdaq exchange in the future, made another Solana purchase on Monday, adding another 88,164 SOL. That purchase brought its total holdings to 251,842 SOL, valued at more than $37 million at today’s prices.
“This marks the beginning of a new c...
Trump Media & Technology Group, the parent company of U.S. President Donald Trump’s Truth Social media platform, will invest up to $250 million in exchange-traded funds and in separately managed accounts tracking cryptocurrency and energy securities as part of partnership with Crypto.com, the companies said Tuesday.
Trump Social announced an initial non-binding agreement with Crypto.com on March 24 to offer these products but did not specify any financial figures at the time.
“This agreement is...
