Matt Damon promoted Crypto.com to support his Water.org charity

Matt Damon said he promoted Crypto.com to raise money for Water.org.

Water.org is a non-profit organization that aims “to bring water and sanitation to the world.” It has programs in Bangladesh, Brazil, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Mexico, Peru, the Philippines, Tanzania, and Uganda.

Damon said traveling the world during the late 80s brought him face-to-face with extreme poverty, which motivated him to take action.

He believes solving poverty starts with fixing the substandard water and sanitation rife in many developing countries. In 2009, he co-founded Water.org along with sanitation expert Gary White.

Damon donates his ad fee

Attending the premiere of his latest film Air in Los Angeles on March 27, the Associated Press asked Damon about his sponsorship by Crypto.com.

The A-lister said he agreed to do the Crypto.com commercial based on supporting Water.org, which “had a down year.”

“I did that commercial in an attempt to raise money for Water.org.”

Damon added that the payment he received from doing the commercial was donated entirely to the charity. Moreover, when Crypto.com discovered this, they presented an additional $1 million – to which he is very grateful.

“Crypto.com heard about that, and they gave a million dollars to Water.org. Completely, just on their own, so I definitely have a lot of gratitude for them.”

Air details the story of a rookie Michael Jordan teaming up with a fledging shoe company to build a culturally significant brand. Damon played the role of Nike Marketing Executive Sonny Vaccaro, who signed Jordan in 1984, snatching him away from Adidas and Converse.

Crypto.com slammed for overspending

The now-infamous “Fortune favors the bold” advert was blasted as macro conditions tightened and crypto contagion spread across the industry – with many firms cutting staff to survive the crisis.

In January 2023, Crypto.com said it was letting go of 20% of its workforce, taking its headcount down to an estimated 3,600 to 4,500 employees. The previous year saw two rounds of layoffs.

Crypto.com CEO Kris Marszalek said the company’s growth projects were overly ambitious, failing to consider contagion risk and “negative economic developments.”

In June 2022, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao implied overspending on ads landed rival exchanges in a tough spot.

“It was not easy saying no to Super bowl ads, stadium naming rights, large sponsor deals a few months ago, but we did.”