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BitPay Airs First TV Bitcoin Commercials On ESPN #BitcoinBowl

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Caleb Chen
Last Updated

bitcoinbowlThe Bitcoin community around the world is currently watching the #BitcoinBowl, and not necessarily for the schools competing (UCF vs. NC State). Instead, many were watching closely to see just how the word “Bitcoin” would be talked about and received by the public. Those involved in the Bitcoin St. Petersburg Bowl have been working closely with BitPay for months to throw this huge event. The pre-sale tickets for the #BitcoinBowl were sold exclusively for Bitcoin.

Even Madeira Beach, where the teams relax before the game, has embraced Bitcoin for their annual Beach Bash. Tonight, Bitcoin made its way to over 100 million households via ESPN and millions more Twitter users via the trending #BitcoinBowl tag.

Also read: Bitcoin Bowl Kickoff on ESPN, Everything You Need to Know for NC State vs. UCF

First TV Bitcoin Commercials Air on ESPN

Earlier this year, the first mention of Bitcoin on live television was experienced by those fortunate enough to catch some Overstock commercials . However, these commercials that just aired on ESPN are undoubtedly the most far-reaching TV Bitcoin commercials thus far.

Well into the #BitcoinBowl, BitPay Chairman Tony Gallippi joined BitPay CEO Stephen Pair to give an executive message:

Welcome to the Bitcoin St. Petersburg Bowl, as the leader in bitcoin payments, BitPay is forging the future by lowering the risk and costs associated with traditional payment options.

Gallippi continued:

We’ve grown BitPay to eighty employees on three continents, and our team has a goal to have 1,000,000 merchants accepting Bitcoin within two years. We’ve eliminated all transaction fees which is shaking up the payments industry. To get started, visit BitPay.com .

Pair ended on a salient note:

Join the game.

The next BitPay commercial highlighted different merchants that accept Bitcoin and the reasons that they do so. As one person quips:

Bitcoin was made for online sales; credit cards were not designed for the Internet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxknhTa8Zx8&feature=youtu.be

BitPay also aired a more humorous commercial featuring a newly signed-up BitPay merchant telling credit card fee collectors that they are no longer needed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rm7wgmwKiAk

Bitcoin company Gyft also ran an ad during the #BitcoinBowl that mentioned that “we accept bitcoin!”

#BitcoinBowl Tipping on Twitter

As a testament to the social impact of the Bitcoin Bowl, ‘#BitcoinBowl’ is a currently a trending hashtag on Twitter. This occurrence can be partly tied to the promise of Bitcoin social tipping (Shooter Jennings is tipping beers as planned) via Changetip  to those that tag #BitcoinBowl. Warner Bros. Records tweeted out yesterday saying that they would be looking for good #BitcoinBowl tweets to “call out,” prompting more speculation that they (and others) would be tipping during the game.

warner bros tipping

Andreas M. Antonopoulos, a community favorite Bitcoin evangelist, also took to Twitter to tip those tweeting about the #BitcoinBowl.

aantonop

Until next year’s #BitcoinBowl!

Images from Shutterstock.