Partnerships with major football brands like Juventus and Atalanta are set to help Polish-born cryptocurrency exchange zondacrypto spread its international wings. In an exclusive interview with Finance Magnates, the platform's CEO Przemyslaw Kral reveals the company's plans for the coming quarters and shares predictions for future Bitcoin (BTC) prices.

zondacrypto Bets on Sports to Gain International Presence

It's long been known that sports emotions intertwine with trading excitement. The largest companies in the finance and cryptocurrency world have been building brand awareness through sports partnerships for years.

Football undeniably takes the lead here, a fact well-understood by zondacrypto. Besides footy, the company also promotes itself at cycling events, including the Tour de Pologne.

“Our Polish origins as well as the fact that part of our sports sponsorship cooperations, like Wojciech Szczesny, former football Polish Champion Rakow Czestochowa, top WTA tennis player Magdalena Frech, and the UCI Gran Fondo World Champion Wojciech Szczepanik are from Poland, strengthen our credibility as the top European global crypto exchange,” Kral commented in conversation with Finance Magnates.

The above focuses on the Polish market, which still plays a dominant role in zondacrypto's offerings. Of the exchange's 1.3 million current customers, over a million are from Poland. Since 2021, their activity has allowed the platform to generate revenues reaching €37 million.

However, Kral has an appetite for international expansion and making zondacrypto not just the largest Polish crypto exchange, but also a significant player in Europe.

“Our goals are international, as are our collaborations with Juventus FC, Atalanta BC, Giorgio Chiellini or Princess Charlene de Monaco Foundation, with more coming soon,” adds the zondacrypto CEO. The sponsorship of the Giro d'Italia is also noteworthy.

The first effects of these actions are already visible.

Italy Becomes Second Most Important Market for zondacrypto

By focusing on building visual presence at important Italian sporting events, including football matches and cyclicng events, zondacrypto has managed to make the country its second most important market at this time.

“Previously, Italy was the 7th largest group among our investors,” revealed Kral. “Comparing the last half of the year with the second half of last year, we recorded a 10-fold increase in the number of customers from Italy.”

The expansion strategy is bringing other benefits to the company as well. In the first half of 2024, the share of payments for zondacrypto services in euros significantly increased. Moreover, users are depositing more than they're withdrawing, which favors the platform's revenue structure. Meanwhile, the company has also obtained another license, meeting regulatory conditions imposed by the Swiss FINMA.

“Comparing the last half of last year and the first half of this year, the share of payments in EUR increased by over 50%,” the zondacrypto CEO commented in a conversation with Finance Magnates. “And users of our exchange deposit more than they withdraw from it, the difference is around 6%.”

Currently, all assets deposited on the platform are valued at €520 million. And although according to CoinMarketCap data, zondacrypto is only the 240th exchange in terms of daily spot volumes (not exceeding $2 million), it remains the leader in terms of trading on the BTC/PLN pair.

Moreover, Kral hopes that the newly introduced native ZND token will help increase the attractiveness of the current offer, attracting new users to the platform.

ZND Warmly Received by Traders

The first public issuance of the ZND token took place in mid-July and was finalized in less than half an hour, raising over €400,000. This was just a taste of subsequent rounds, through which the platform aims to raise over €12 million and mint 189 million ZND tokens. The main phase of the airdrop was launched last week and will last until mid-October.

“The total supply of tokens is 700,000,000 units. The ZND token is deflationary, meaning that further asset pieces will not be minted. ZND is based on the ERC-20 standard, and its consensus algorithm is Proof-of-Stake. This aims to ensure optimal security, decentralization, and scalability for the project,” explains Kral.

Like other large cryptocurrency exchanges, zondacrypto is introducing its own cryptocurrency to increase user engagement and provide an additional source of revenue. Users can count on commission discounts and better staking conditions, as well as participation in loyalty programs, while the exchange can raise additional capital through token issuance.

Bitcoin to Reach New ATH This Year?

When asked where he sees the price of Bitcoin in the long term, Kral suggested that there are “strong predictions for significant price increases driven by the halving event and institutional adoption,” which allow for considering potential all-time highs.

“Some analysts predict that BTC could hit USD 100K by the end of the year. Experts like Anthony Scaramucci or Michael Novogratz go a step further and believe in reaching 150–170K USD within 18 months after the 2024 halving ,” said the zondacrypto CEO.

He also drew attention to the popularity of cryptocurrency ETFs and growing institutional adoption.

From the perspective of a cryptocurrency exchange CEO, the increase in BTC price and other main assets is certainly beneficial. Every “crypto pump” attracts new investors and clients, certainly much more than even the best promotional campaign.