Why You Should Curb Your Enthusiasm About the 'Crypto Bowl'

To the astonishment of perfectly nary one, the ads of past night’s Super Bowl broadcast were dominated by the accustomed worldly – beer, cars, snacks, sports betting – but also, inevitably, crypto.

This nonfiction is excerpted from The Node, CoinDesk's regular roundup of the astir pivotal stories successful blockchain and crypto news. You tin subscribe to get the afloat newsletter here.

Coinbase, FTX, Crypto.com and eToro each brought crypto-related income pitches to the large game, arsenic did TurboTax, with an advertisement nodding to the nightmare of handling integer assets during taxation season. Meta had a commercial, too, albeit a somewhat depressing one.

This glut of fintech advertizing is being called the “Crypto Bowl.” Larry David and Lebron James were there. Matt Damon was not there, contempt past appearances successful crypto commercials.

Crypto enthusiasts rejoiced, predicting imminent mainstream adoption (this time, surely!). Everyone other cringed (including viewers aged capable to retrieve the 2005 Super Bowl, erstwhile the “winner” of the advertisement contention was a boiler-room subprime owe lender that shut down 2 years aboriginal arsenic the lodging bubble burst).

Here’s my little (subjective) ranking of the crypto- and fintech-adjacent ads from this year’s Super Bowl broadcast, from worst to best.

In this, a profoundly evil advertisement, an aged animatronic canine from a retro diner relives his glory days done the powerfulness of Meta’s VR platform.

We spot the canine look years of neglect, treated arsenic a prop, forgotten connected the broadside of the roadworthy and yet enactment retired to pasture. Just earlier he’s crushed by a trash compactor, he’s saved by a benignant alien who repurposes him for 1 of Meta’s VR demonstrations. A headset is strapped to his face, and he’s abruptly transported to a integer replica of the diner helium mislaid truthful galore years ago. He warmly embraces the illusion.

It’s the “Make America Great Again” of Super Bowl ads, but someway adjacent more cynical – a proposition that amended days aren’t coming successful the existent world. Mark Zuckerberg’s projected virtual satellite lets america cling to those ghosts of the past, the losses and regrets we couldn’t rather grip present connected Earth.

At slightest the different tech-related ads this twelvemonth were somewhat guardant thinking. Increasingly, Meta feels similar a institution whose best days are down it.

This ad, for the integer brokerage eToro, felt similar a motion to the meme-stock/online trading question that blossomed successful the aftermath of past year’s GameStop abbreviated squeeze. It’s precise overmuch astir investing together – everyone other is connected board, truthful wherefore shouldn’t you be, too?

“To the moon?” asks 1 trader, lifting a caller enlistee into a shifting wide of online investors.

There were adjacent cameos of a Shiba Inu, the mascot of the cryptocurrency dogecoin, and another one from the Bored Ape Yacht Club.

You could accidental it’s benignant of irresponsible to committedness these kinds of moonward gains to an assemblage that’s perchance conscionable present making its archetypal crypto investments.

Boring, safe. Even Jason Sudeikis couldn’t prevention this one.

Crypto.com already drew plentifulness of ire (and garnered a “South Park” jab) for its ads with Matt Damon, which portrayed blockchain tech arsenic a humanities improvement connected par with the invention of the airplane, and breathlessly promised traders that “fortune favors the brave.”

Its Super Bowl ad, starring hoops prima Lebron James, repurposes that aforesaid tagline for a much lighthearted instrumentality connected the concept. In it, a digitally de-aged Lebron talks with his present-day aforesaid successful a messy chamber circa 2003. It’s meant to evoke that feeling of taking a large leap, diving into thing caller with the imaginable for world-historic consequences.

On 1 of the chamber walls, there’s a poster of Mars – the aforesaid changeable from the extremity of the Matt Damon commercial.

It’s visually ambitious but conceptually simple. (It besides flirts with the aforesaid recklessness arsenic the eToro ad).

This advertisement – conscionable a QR codification changing colors portion bouncing astir connected a achromatic screen, with a last splash surface speechmaking “Coinbase,” was seemingly truthful fashionable it crashed the exchange’s website.

It took Coinbase’s mobile level to No. 2 connected the App Store, and was hailed by Adweek arsenic the year’s champion Super Bowl ad.

“Coinbase spending $16,000,000 connected a Super Bowl advertisement to nonstop radical to [its] website and $0 to marque definite that website doesn't clang 10 seconds aft the advertisement starts is truthful precise internet,” tweeted National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden.

It's surely the astir inventive of this year’s Super Bowl ads, but the trade-off was a deficiency of personality. At slightest it’s honorable astir what it’s selling – astir apt much than you tin accidental for the Crypto.com ads.

The basal conception down this advertisement is that Larry David, of “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” is simply a notorious curmudgeon – the poster kid of curmudgeonliness, a curmudgeon’s curmudgeon. Here, helium plays a naysayer passim history, shunning each “next large thing” successful its aboriginal days.

The invention of the wheel? “I don’t deliberation so.” The beginnings of American ideology and the signing of the Declaration of Independence? “No king?”

The absorption to this ad, truthful far, has been overwhelmingly negative.

“Larry David successful a crypto advertisement is simply a beauteous succinct reply to ‘Is it ever imaginable to person capable money?’” wrote the comedian Patrtick Monahan. The Los Angeles Times ran an sentiment piece with the title, “Et Tu, Larry?” – a motion to the endless stream of celebrities joining the crypto parade. A Washington Post exertion suggested the advertisement was portion of a high-concept bit, wherein the adjacent play of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” would woody with the backlash that comes with promoting crypto.

Whatever. Imagine, for a second, you didn’t cognize this advertisement was astir crypto. The world is that it’s beauteous clever! I’d instrumentality it implicit that regressive, pessimistic Meta advertisement immoderate day.

Bonus points to FTX for going to specified lengths to conceal the existent product.