This week, news broke that the Super Bowl had banned crypto commercials. CoinDesk, Business Insider, Yahoo and other outlets have since printed a retraction, but there are still contradicting messages. Tweets by Bankless and WatcherGuru continue to be seen by millions, not yet removed.

There is “no representation of crypto companies, which isn’t a ban,” Naimul Huq, senior vice president of operations at Vayner3,  said in an interview. Vayner3 and VaynerMedia are subsidiaries of VaynerX, headed by Internet entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk. VaynerMedia is actively working on Super Bowl campaigns, with three spots coming in this Sunday’s game – two Pepsi ads and a Planters ad.

“My take is it’s due to funding,” Huq said. 

Changpeng Zhao, the CEO of Binance stated that they weren’t doing an arena naming rights sponsorship or Super Bowl commercial and were instead hiring 2,000 people. Two crypto companies had deals for the 2023 Super Bowl, but both pulled out after FTX imploded.

Last year’s game came to be known as the “Crypto Bowl,” where Vayner3 was instrumental in getting the iconic Nouns glasses into the Bud Light commercial. Other crypto ads included Coinbase, the now-disgraced FTX featured an ad with Larry David, eToro touted its crypto services and Crypto.com featured basketball powerhouse LeBron James in its ad.

“The Bud team approached Nouns DAO with a proposal to feature the glasses in a Super Bowl commercial and on real beverage cans – the DAO purchased Noun 179 for the brand in exchange – a first in big game advertising,” Huq said. 

Beyond market conditions and the FTX collapse, rising scrutiny from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is likely spooking brands from associating themselves with crypto. 

The Super Bowl was the most viewed sporting event in the U.S. in 2022, with two-thirds of U.S. households, or 208 million viewers, tuning in. NBC sold 30-second Super Bowl commercials for a record $6.5 million on average last year.