Polkadot’s $37M Marketing Spend Criticized as DOT Struggles to Impress

DeFi Ignas, the pseudonymous co-founder of the DeFi creator studio Pink Brains, has shared insights on Polkadot’s marketing expenses within the past six months. The analysis shows that the Polkadot team has invested approximately $37 million to reach new users, developers, and projects.

Still, these expenses have had minimal impact on the blockchain project’s overall performance. Its native coin, DOT, has also struggled to demonstrate significant uptrends to match the efforts invested by the developer team.

Marketing Expenses Breakdown

DeFi Ignas detailed the Polkadot team’s spending, revealing that $10 million was channeled into advertisements and sponsorships. This included a $6.8 million sports sponsorship deal, a $1.9 million sponsorship of a motorsports racing driver, and a $1.3 million investment into an esports organization.

The Polkadot team also pumped $4.9 million into the pockets of influencers like EVOX ($2.2 million), Lunar Strategy ($1.3 million), Chainwire ($490,000), and Unchained ($460,000). Ignas added that $4 million was invested in digital adverts. Another $7.9 million was funneled into main and side events.

Referencing a Polkadot executive, the Pink Brains co-founder revealed that the blockchain project spent $86 million through the first half of this year. Other endeavors the Polkadot team invested in included a $1 million injection into DED memecoin, $39,000 into nine sign language videos that have generated an average of ten views, and $1.2 million for Polkadot’s founder, Gavin Wood, and the parachain teams to attend a forum.

Will Polkadot’s DOT See a Significant Jump?

Launched in May 2020, Polkadot emerged as a layer-0 blockchain project that houses layer-1 blockchains and offers shared security to projects building in its ecosystem.

Since its debut, Polkadot’s DOT has attained an all-time high of $55, recorded during the 2021 bull run. It currently ranks as the 17th largest cryptocurrency, with a market cap of over $8.8 billion.

Most crypto projects venture into adverts and partnerships to bolster their crypto’s value and increase audiences. Still, Polkadot’s DOT has yet to show a significant price movement since the start of the year. This year, the coin’s peak was $11.32 in March. Since then, it has rebounded to a current trading price of $6.39.