What happened
The value of cryptocurrency Algorand (ALGO 2.20%) fell as much as 11.8% in the last 24 hours as of 2:30 p.m. ET, but it's up 12.8% since that time. Not only is trading surging, but the cryptocurrency also announced a huge partnership that it hopes will reach hundreds of millions of people.
So what
Algorand announced today that it will be the official blockchain partner of FIFA, soccer's governing body. The cryptocurrency is said to be a "regional supporter" for North America and Europe while Crypto.com is a major sponsor as well.
Image source: Getty Images.
FIFA said Algorand will provide official wallet support as well as help in developing a digital asset strategy. The simple goal here is to put the Algorand blockchain on the map as others have taken market share for decentralized finance and non-fungible token projects.
Now what
Cryptocurrencies and blockchains are ultimately going to win or lose based on how many developers and users they can attract. Algorand is one of the smaller cryptocurrencies and doesn't have a big ecosystem, so this is a plan to put it on the map for soccer fans.
While sponsorships may be good news in the short term, I don't think it fundamentally changes how investors should look at the cryptocurrency in the long term. Either people are building on it or they're not and a sponsorship isn't going to force the issue. That's why I think in time this pop may fade.
