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Super Bowl LVII featured dozens of commercials showing the latest products, movie trailersand celebrity endorsements.

One thing that was notably missing was a large number of cryptocurrency companies using the Super Bowl to advertise their product.

Heres a look atSuper Bowl LVI, which was nicknamed the Crypto Bowl, and how much an investment in Bitcoin would be worth now.

What Happened: Super Bowl LVI aired on NBC on Feb. 13, 2022. The big game earned the nickname The Crypto Bowl by many in the industry thanks to the higher number of cryptocurrency-related companies advertising during the game for the first time.

With 30-second commercials commanding a price tag of around $6.5 million, cryptocurrency companies shelled out big bucks to get their product in front of over 100 million people that watched the Los Angeles Rams defeat the Cincinnati Bengals.

Among the companies that advertised during the Super Bowl were FTX, Crypto.com, Coinbase Global IncCOIN and eToro.

Coinbase saw their Super Bowl commercial, which featured a floating QR code, go viral and lead to more user signups during the big game.

Months after the Super Bowl, troubles would continue for the cryptocurrency sector. Among the biggest issues was the bankruptcy of FTX, whichwas a big spender during the Super Bowl.

Many have poked fun at the cryptocurrency commercials airing during the Super Bowl being similar to the large number of dot-com companies that aired commercials during the 2000 Super Bowl. A total of 14 companies with .com in their name advertised during the game. Less than half of the companies are active today, with several getting bought out and others fading away.

The 2022 Super Bowl, which took place on Feb. 12, 2023, featured no commercials from cryptocurrency companies. Cryptocurrency commercials were not banned during the game, but four companies that were close to deals or had signed commercial deals ultimately backed out before the big game.

Super Bowl LVII did feature one commercial for Limit Break, a Web3 gaming company that has released several NFT collections. The ad featured a QR code that took users to a free claim for an NFT if they were among the lucky first people to scan or to the Twitter profile of Gabriel Leydon, CEO of Limit Break.

Related Link: How To Buy Bitcoin

Investing $1,000 in Bitcoin: With the many commercials from cryptocurrency companies airing during Super Bowl LVI, viewers may have been willing to invest in the sector, including the leading cryptocurrency Bitcoin BTC/USD .

Bitcoin traded between $41,950.94 and $42,693.05 on Super Bowl Sunday in 2022. The cryptocurrency closed at $42,197.52, which is the starting price point for thishypothetical investment exercise.

An investor could have bought 0.0237 Bitcoin with a $1,000 investment after Super Bowl LVI aired.

The $1,000 investment would be worth $513.22 today, based on a price of $21,654.73 for Bitcoin at the time of writing.

This represents a loss of 48.7% on the hypothetical investment.

For comparison, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY is down 6.6% from the morning after the Super Bowl (Feb. 14, 2022) to now.

Bitcoin has traded between $15,559.05 and $48,086.84 over the last 52 weeks.

The hypothetical investment shows that while companies shell out millions of dollars to advertise their products during the Super Bowl, it doesnt mean they are always worthy investments that will go up in value.

Read Next: Will Bitcoin Go Back Up? Bitcoin Price Prediction

Photo:Andrew Angelovvia Shutterstock

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Why Boris’s best mate is off to Reform

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Why Boris's best mate is off to Reform

👉Listen to Politics at Sam and Anne’s on your podcast app👈       

Former Conservative chairman and friend of Boris Johnson – Sir Jake Berry – is defecting to Reform UK, causing more problems for Tory leader Kemi Badenoch.

On today’s episode, Sky News’ Sam Coates and Politico’s Anne McElvoy discuss if his defection will divide parts of Reform policy.

Elsewhere, the Anglo-French summit gets under way, with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer hoping to announce a migration deal with French President Emmanuel Macron to deter small boat crossings.

Plus, chatter around Whitehall that No10 are considering a pre-summer reshuffle, but will it have any value?

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US

Donald Trump praises Liberian president’s English – the country’s official language

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Donald Trump praises Liberian president's English - the country's official language

Donald Trump has praised the Liberian president’s command of English – the West African country’s official language.

The US president reacted with visible surprise to Joseph Boakai’s English-speaking skills during a White House meeting with leaders from the region on Wednesday.

After the Liberian president finished his brief remarks, Mr Trump told him he speaks “such good English” and asked: “Where did you learn to speak so beautifully?”

Mr Trump seemed surprised when Mr Boakai laughed and responded he learned in Liberia.

The US president said: “It’s beautiful English.

“I have people at this table who can’t speak nearly as well.”

Mr Boakai did not tell Mr Trump that English is the official language of Liberia.

The country was founded in 1822 with the aim of relocating freed African slaves and freeborn black citizens from the US.

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Mr Trump promised the leaders of Liberia, Senegal, Gabon, Mauritania and Guinea-Bissau a pivot from aid to trade at the surprise meeting.

He described the countries as “all very vibrant places with very valuable land, great minerals, and great oil deposits, and wonderful people”.

Read more from Sky News:
Gaza permanent ceasefire ‘questionable’, says Israeli official
Four dead and ‘many’ kidnapped after Houthi rebels sink ship

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Later asked by a reporter if he’ll visit the continent, Mr Trump said, “At some point, I would like to go to Africa.”

But he added that he’d “have to see what the schedule looks like”.

Trump’s predecessor, President Joe Biden, promised to go to Africa in 2023, but only fulfilled the commitment by visiting Angola in December 2024, just weeks before he left office.

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Gaza permanent ceasefire ‘questionable’, says Israeli government

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Gaza permanent ceasefire 'questionable', says Israeli government

The Israeli government believes the chances of achieving a permanent ceasefire in Gaza are “questionable”.

The pessimistic assessment, in a top-level Israeli government briefing given to Sky News, comes as the Israeli Prime Minister prepares to leave Washington DC after a four-day visit which had begun with the expectation of a ceasefire announcement.

Benjamin Netanyahu will leave the US later today with the prospect of even a temporary 60-day ceasefire looking extremely unlikely this week.

Within “a week, two weeks – not a day” is how it was framed in the background briefing late on Wednesday.

Crucially, though, on the chances of the ceasefire lasting beyond 60 days, the framing from the briefing was even less optimistic: “We will begin negotiations on a permanent settlement. But we achieve it? It’s questionable, but Hamas will not be there.”

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Netanyahu arrives in US for ceasefire talks

Sky News has spoken to several Israeli officials at the top level of the government. None will be drawn on any of the details of the negotiations over concerns that public disclosure could jeopardise their chances of success.

But I have been given a very clear understanding of Mr Netanyahu’s thinking.

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The Israeli position is that a permanent ceasefire (beyond the initial 60 days, which itself is yet to be agreed) is only possible if Hamas lays down its arms. “If they don’t, we’ll proceed [with the war],” said a source.

The major sticking point in the talks between Hamas and Israel is the status of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) inside Gaza during the 60-day ceasefire and beyond, should it last longer.

The latest Israeli proposal, passed to Hamas last week, included a map showing the proposed IDF presence inside Gaza during the ceasefire.

Read more: What is the possible Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal?

Israeli military vehicles stand near the Israel-Gaza border, in Israel.
Pic: Reuters
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Pic: Reuters

This was rejected by Hamas and by Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, who reportedly told the Israelis that the redeployment map “looks like a Smotrich plan”, a reference to the extreme-right Israeli finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich.

My briefing of Mr Netanyahu’s position is that he has not shifted in terms of Israel’s central stated war aims. The return of the hostages and eliminating Hamas are the key objectives.

But in a hint of how hard it will be to reconcile the differences, it was clear from my briefing that no permanent ceasefire is possible in the Israeli government’s view without the complete removal of Hamas as a political and military entity.

Hamas is not likely to negotiate its way to oblivion.

On the status of the Israeli military inside Gaza, a senior Israeli official told Sky News: “We would want IDF in every square metre of Gaza, and then hand it over to someone.”

Smoke rises in Gaza after an explosion, as seen from the Israeli side of the Israel-Gaza border.
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Pic: Reuters

It was clear to me that Mr Netanyahu wants his stated position to be that his government has no territorial ambition for Gaza.

One quote to come from my briefing, which I am only able to attribute to a senior Israeli official, says: “[We] don’t want to govern Gaza… don’t want to govern, but the first thing is, you have to defeat Hamas.”

Another clear indication of Mr Netanyahu’s position – a quote from the briefing, attributable only to a senior Israeli official: “You cannot have victory if you don’t clear out all the fighting forces.

“You have to go into every square inch unless you are not serious about victory. I am. We are going to defeat them. Those who do not disarm will die. Those who disarm will have a life.”

On the future of Gaza, it’s clear from my briefings that Mr Netanyahu continues to rule out the possibility of a two-state solution “for the foreseeable future”.

The Israeli government assessment is that the Palestinians are not going to have a state “as long as they cling to that idea of destroying our state”.

Read more:
UN Special Rapporteur criticises Israel
Why Netanyahu only wants a 60-day ceasefire
Trump applying ‘heavy pressure’ on Netanyahu

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On the most controversial aspect of the Gaza conflict – the movement of the population – the briefing revealed that Mr Netanyahu’s view is that 60% of Palestinians would “choose to leave” but that Israel would allow them to return once Hamas had been eliminated.

“It’s not forcible eviction, it’s not permanent eviction,” a senior Israeli official said.

Critics of Israel’s war in Gaza say that any removal of Palestinians from Gaza, even if given the appearance of being “voluntary”, is in fact anything but, because the strip has been so comprehensively flattened.

Reacting to Israeli Defence Minister Katz’s recent statement revealing a plan to move Palestinians into a “humanitarian city” in southern Gaza, and not let them out of that area, the official wouldn’t be drawn, except to say: “As a permanent arrangement? Of course not.”

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