Coinbase QR Code Super Bowl Ad Causes App to Crash

Coinbase’s app crashed just seconds after running a unique ad on Super Bowl LVI that showed a QR code with the company’s logo that had little to no connection to any of its usual broadcast ads. The 60-second ad consists almost entirely of a colorful bouncing QR code, reminiscent of the iconic bouncing DVD logo meme. When scanned, the code brings viewers to Coinbase’s promotional website, offering a limited time promotion of $15 worth of free Bitcoin to new sign ups, along with a $3 million giveaway. With an estimated 117 million of a global audience watching the commercial, this resulted in the crypto site to crash after users logged in simultaneously. However, the outage didn’t last long as the site was up in just a matter of a few minutes. In fact, its homepage later displayed the giveaway promotion along with messages like “Less Talk, More Bitcoin” and “WAGMI.” Coinbase reportedly spent 150 Bitcoin for an estimated $14 million to air the commercial. Crypto Ads on Super Bowl Some of America’s largest cryptocurrency companies are paying upto millions of dollars for a brief feature during the Superbowl commercial. In fact, the 2022 Super Bowl is already being dubbed as the “Crypto Bowl” based on the number of crypto advertisers. What’s more, the game will be held at a Southern California stadium owned by SoFi, a financial services company that offers crypto trading with Coinbase. Following Coinbase, Crypto.com will also featur...