Binance drops new ad with Cristiano Ronaldo as FTX celeb endorsers like Tom Brady and Steph Curry face a lawsuit

• Binance launched its first global marketing campaign, and it features soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo.
• As the World Cup begins, Ronaldo is launching is first NFT collection under the Binance partnership.

Crypto exchange Binance launched its global ad campaign, which features Portuguese football star Cristiano Ronaldo.

As the World Cup begins, the ad campaign coincides with Ronaldo's non-fungible token collection that became available on Friday as part of a multiyear partnership with Binance.

"We believe the metaverse and blockchain are the future of the internet," said Binance Co-Founder and Chief Marketing Officer He Yi in a statement. "We are honored to collaborate with Cristiano to help more people understand blockchain and showcase how we are building Web3 infrastructure for the sports and entertainment industry."

The 60-second ad is running across television, social media, and digital channels in 74 countries.

Notably, Yi also made a veiled stab at FTX in comments shared with Ad Age.

"There are bad players in our industry, but it's important to know that there are also creators and innovators, who are working hard to build valuable products and services in Web3," Yi said.

Binance CEO Changpeng "CZ" Zhao has had a public rivalry with FTX's Sam Bankman-Fried. Most recently, CZ briefly agreed to takeover FTX in a rescue, but walked away from the deal and Bankman-Fried's firm filed for bankruptcy soon after.

The Ronaldo deal also comes as investors filed a lawsuit against pro athletes who promoted FTX, including Tom Brady, Steph Curry, David Ortiz, as well as celebrities like Larry David and Kevin O'Leary.

The lawsuit claims that defendants "made numerous misrepresentations and omissions...in order to induce confidence and to drive consumers to invest in what was ultimately a Ponzi scheme."