The recent MoonPay World Cup incident has set a new standard for crypto on-ramp marketing. On July 8, 2026, during the Egypt vs. Argentina match, an intern posted on X (previously Twitter) that Lionel Messi was washed up.
This seemingly innocuous comment quickly went viral after Messi scored the equalizer and helped Argentina win the match. Instead of deleting or ignoring the post, MoonPay decided to use it as a marketing opportunity.
The company released a humorous statement on X saying that the intern's posting privileges had been revoked for the remainder of the World Cup. The intern was forced to watch every goal Messi had ever scored and write a 10-page research paper on 'why Messi is better than Ronaldo', without using AI assistance.