Coinbase Super Bowl “Free BTC” Ad Caused Site To Crash

The Coinbase Super bowl “Free BTC” Ad caused the site to crash briefly as the QR-code that led to the promotion was popular enough to crash the site as we are reading further today in our latest coinbase news.

Coinbase’s QR code ad proved quite popular as the demand was huge and led to the crashing of the site. Despite the glitch, the ad was quite well recieved on social media. Coinbase made the crypto splash during this year’s Super Bowl after the company aired the commercial which consisted of nothing but a QR code that floated around the screen for 60 seconds. The Coinbase super bowl ad flashed a Coinbase URL at the end and led to the website displaying a promotion for $15 in free BTC for customers that will sign up for the next two days. The Coinbase commercial seemed to be a success but maybe it was a too big.

Coinbase reportedly spent $14M on this QR code commercial. Brilliant. pic.twitter.com/E1MSGpzxWk

— The Metaverse (@themetav3rse) February 14, 2022

Shortly after it aired, people started tweeting that the company’s site and app had crashed. The outage didn’t last long however as the exchange’s site was up a few minutes later including the homepage which displayed a giveaway promotion alogn with messages like “WAGMI” and “Less Talk, More bitcoin.”

@coinbase just saw more traffic than we've ever encountered, but our teams pulled together and only had to throttle traffic for a few minutes. We are now back and ready for you at https://t.co/ZUJqRlnZPH. Humbled to have been witness to this. #WAGMI

— Surojit (@surojit) February 14, 2022

In the meantime, the ad elicited a lot of buzz on social media while others noted that the ultra-low production costs of the ad were also why the ad was a total success, compared to a typical Super Bowl commercial. One crypto commentator called attention to the technical meltdown of the website but then praised the ad as clever and original. The Coinbase ad was not the only crypto ad on the air during the Super Bowl. FTX crypto exchange also made its Super Bowl debut with a commercial featuring comedian Larry David while ads like Turbo Tax and Bud Light also talked about crypto.

WTH is this square bouncing on my screen. I thought my TV cut off.

— Marty Smith (@MartySmithESPN) February 14, 2022

As recently reported, FTX also planned to make a giveaway during the Super Bowl, a part of an effort by FTX to gain a huge brand presence in the more mainstream audience of sports fans considering that the Super Bowl is the most-watched sports event in the US. Sam Bankman Fried is an expert in aggressive marketing tactics and the campaign is no exception so it will not be just a typical giveaway but it will rely on luck and timing. No one knew how much money was involved in the giveaway and therein lies the creative part of the campaign with the exchange explained that the number of BTC to be given away will depend on the time that the AD appears on the TV screen during the Super Bowl.