Web3 Watch: Ronaldo re-ups Binance NFTs despite lawsuit

Plus, celebrity memecoins

article-image

Cristiano Ronaldo | Maciej Rogowski Photo/Shutterstock modified by Blockworks

share

Soccer megastar Cristiano Ronaldo released another set of NFTs on Binance this week, marking his fourth collection since partnering with Binance in mid-2022. 

The NFTs give holders the chance to meet Ronaldo, as well as access to exclusive content, per Binance’s website. The drop also comes a few weeks after a Florida judge denied Ronaldo’s legal team’s motion to have a $1 billion class action lawsuit dismissed stemming from his promotion of the crypto exchange, Newsweek reported.

The lawsuit says Ronaldo was not forthcoming about aspects of the promotion, and he essentially aided Binance in the sale of unregistered currencies. 

Ronaldo’s continued involvement with Binance and crypto is interesting in light of other sports stars’ chastening following crypto-related lawsuits (you don’t see Tom Brady posting about bitcoin much these days). Not even the $4.3 billion settlement Binance had to pay the Securities and Exchange Commission for breaking US laws could scare off Ronaldo. 

Read more: Binance, Zhao ‘deliberately’ violated US law, SEC argues

I spoke with Binance’s head of partnerships, Sarah Dale, this week to get a sense of how the exchange thinks about and pulls off sports partnerships like its continuing one with Ronaldo. 

Dale said the Ronaldo partnership helps Binance reach customers who aren’t necessarily “crypto natives.” He’s also a star with popularity in the countries where Binance has a license to operate, a consideration the company has to make when choosing partnerships.

“The Olympics isn’t going to work for us, because we aren’t even in all of those countries,” Dale said as an example. 

Read more: Web3 Watch: Binance seems likely to retain its sports partnerships despite DOJ actions

Overall, Dale told me sports is a main focus for Binance’s cultural marketing. This perhaps makes intuitive sense, as customers interested in Ronaldo and customers potentially interested in crypto may have a reasonable amount of overlap. 

As Blockworks Research analyst Ryan Connor wrote in 0x Research this week: “The college football, DraftKings, Barstool Sports combo is quite similar to crypto, DEX Screener, crypto twitter, no?”

Celebrities flock to launch memecoins

Caitlyn Jenner, Iggy Azalea, Soulja Boy and Trippie Redd are all names that I somehow just wrote in the same sentence. 

That’s because each of these (sorta-not-A-list) celebs had some involvement with Solana memecoins this week. 

Read more: Pump.fun revenues hit record as Caitlyn Jenner launches second memecoin

These celebrities are, presumably, profiting off the price appreciation in these assets while firing up their fanbases to invest alongside them. But memecoins with less connection to their titular celebrities had noteworthy weeks too.

The presidential candidates-themed BODEN and TREMP somehow both spiked yesterday in the hours after the news of Donald Trump’s felony conviction broke, according to CoinGecko.

One interesting stat:

  • The Pepe memecoin has a larger market capitalization than a range of top NFT projects combined, according to a dashboard posted by the pseudonymous @punk9059.

Also of note:

  • Web3 gaming device company BitBoy is soliciting pre-orders for a handheld gaming device.
  • Metaverse fashion company RTFKT announced a Nike collaboration coming in June.
  • The move and earn app STEPN is releasing a new app, STEPN GO.

Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

  • Blockworks Daily: The newsletter that helps thousands of investors understand crypto and the markets, by Byron Gilliam.
  • Empire: Start your morning with the top news and analysis to inform your day in crypto.
  • Forward Guidance: Reporting and analysis on the growing intersection of crypto and macroeconomics, policy and finance.
  • 0xResearch: Alpha directly in your inbox. Market highlights, data, degen trade ideas, governance updates, token performance and more.
  • Lightspeed: Built for Solana investors, developers and community members. The latest from one of crypto’s hottest networks.
  • The Drop: For crypto collectors and traders, covering apps, games, memes and more.
  • Supply Shock: Tracking Bitcoin’s rise from internet plaything worth less than a penny to global phenomenon disrupting money as we know it.
Tags

Upcoming Events

Industry City | Brooklyn, NY

TUES - THURS, JUNE 24 - 26, 2025

Permissionless IV serves as the definitive gathering for crypto’s technical founders, developers, and builders to come together and create the future.If you’re ready to shape the future of crypto, Permissionless IV is where it happens.

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

recent research

Research Report Templates.jpg

Research

Bluefin possibly stands at an inflection point. The token is near an all-time low yet the protocol’s spot volume market share and derivatives exchange usage have been increasing month over month since its November launch. Given its current market position and the upcoming upgrades (for both Bluefin and SUI), there may be upside potential before the increased supply growth in December. However, strong opposition from existing competitors (like Cetus and Suilend), as well as new entrants (like Aftermath), pose key challenges to Bluefin’s medium-term success.

article-image

What Grayscale’s watching going into the second quarter and why crypto had a rough start to the year

article-image

Sol’s price drop was partially triggered by one of the year’s more chaotic memecoin events

article-image

Are digital assets just part of “normal” finance conversations now?

article-image

It’s a busy week as DC prepares for confirmations and policies that may have major impacts on crypto

article-image

NFT collection Azuki is releasing anime-inspired decks for a physical trading card game

article-image

Fidelity is planning a stablecoin launch, FT reports, as more companies flock to the digital-dollar business