FTX’s Super Bowl ad promises to give away bitcoin to four winners, which is tied to when the ad appears during the second half of the game. For example, if the ad appeared at 9:45 p.m., each winner would receive 9.45 bitcoins.

Americans watching the Super Bowl on Sunday will be surrounded by advertisements for the cryptocurrency industry, including exchange FTX, which plans to give away millions of dollars in bitcoin.

FTX has invested heavily in sports partnerships in an attempt to establish itself as a leading brand in the crypto space, including an advertising partnership with NFL star Tom Brady, sponsorship of MLB, and a $135 million renaming of the Miami Heat's arena to FTX Arena trade.

Co-founder and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, who recently moved FTX’s headquarters from Hong Kong to the Bahamas, said the ads were both to gain approval from U.S. regulators and to get customers to download the FTX Pro App.

"We want to make sure we're painting a healthy image of ourselves and the industry," said SBF, 29, whose net worth exceeds $24 billion, according to Forbes. "We are optimistic that we can grow our business in the U.S. - this will not be possible without working with U.S. regulators to bring new products to market."

The crypto industry includes virtual currencies such as bitcoin and ethereum, as well as non-fungible NFTs, which can provide proof of ownership for assets such as digital images or equipment in video games. Both cryptocurrencies and NFTs are built using blockchain as an information storage technology.

Meanwhile, cryptocurrencies are volatile. At the end of 2021, there will be a wave of NFTs that can be used as personal avatars or collectible artworks, which will make the global cryptocurrency market value soar to $3 trillion. A plunge in January saw the cryptocurrency's market capitalization drop rapidly, but has since rebounded to $2 trillion, according to CoinMarketCap.

FTX competes with well-known exchanges such as Coinbase, which allow users to buy and trade cryptocurrencies. But most of FTX's revenue comes from trading crypto derivatives outside the U.S. market, a riskier area of ​​cryptocurrency. Because the U.S. currently does not issue licenses for trading platforms that offer crypto derivatives trading, some U.S. traders have to circumvent the ban on offshore trading platforms such as FTX on their own. FTX’s U.S. subsidiary, FTX US, has received a license for a cryptocurrency trading platform.

“The U.S. is an important global hub. What happens in the U.S. tends to have considerable repercussions around the world,” said SBF, who testified before Congress on risks and regulations for digital assets on Feb. 9. In December 2021, he participated in a hearing for the first time in Congress on financial innovation, where executives of crypto companies advocated light regulation.

The staggering growth of the crypto industry has raised concerns about how to protect consumers and systemic financial risks from a lack of oversight, even as there is no shortage of celebrities, influencers and investors touting cryptocurrencies as a means of economic empowerment.

Lawmakers have shown “significant interest” in shaping U.S. cryptocurrency policy, the SBF said. At a House Financial Services Committee hearing in December 2021, the SBF expressed a keen interest in "ensuring that we have adequate consumer protection mechanisms in place to fend off systemic risk and keep the U.S. competitive within the industry."

SBF attended the meeting last week in Washington, where he said he "did as much as I could to give people information and resources."

The crypto industry has been dramatically increasing spending on political campaigns since failing to remove new industry reporting requirements in the Senate infrastructure package in the summer of 2021. In one of the latest moves, a group of executives, including FTX Digital Markets CEO Ryan Salame, formed a PAC (Political Action Committee) with the aim of spending $20 million in the midterm elections in the U.S. Friendly candidates are elected.

According to a September survey by the Pew Research Center, 16 percent of Americans said they had invested in, traded or used cryptocurrencies themselves.

FTX raised $400 million in January at a $32 billion valuation, doubling its valuation in six months. Investors in the latest round include venture capital firms including SoftBank and Tiger Global Management, crypto venture capital firm Paradigm, and the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board.

SBF, who was interviewed at its Bahamas office, said the goal of FTX’s partnership with the sports world is less about convincing consumers to open accounts with FTX than about branding.

"It's going to affect how we think and frame things in the long run," he said.

FTX research shows that these ads had an impact. The company saw higher brand awareness in Houston and Atlanta, home to both teams in the 2021 World Series, and in Miami, home to FTX Arena. FTX said it doubled its number of U.S. users in the final quarter of 2021.

FTX’s Super Bowl commercial uses the psychology of people FOMOing the crypto industry to create wealth.

“The past two months have certainly not been the best for the digital asset industry, but in general, the digital asset industry was almost the best performing industry last year,” SBF said.