Tadej Pogacar adds crypto sponsor as his off-bike empire keeps growing
Tadej Pogacar has signed a new sponsorship deal with crypto exchange KuCoin, adding another brand to an already crowded portfolio around the reigning world champion and Tour de France winner. KuCoin announced Pogacar as a global brand ambassador, with the partnership unveiled in Vienna.
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What is KuCoin?
KuCoin is an international centralised cryptocurrency exchange (CEX) founded in China in 2017. Due to regulatory restrictions on crypto businesses, it later relocated first to Singapore and then to the Seychelles, where it is now based. The platform allows users to trade Bitcoin, Ethereum, and hundreds of altcoins, and is known for offering a wide range of trading options. KuCoin also has its own token, KuCoin Shares.
“I’m proud to team up with KuCoin as their Global Brand Ambassador,” Pogacar wrote on his Instagram account. “I’ve always believed in pushing limits, staying curious, and backing people who are building something new whether that’s in cycling or beyond. KuCoin is doing that in the crypto world, and I’m excited to be part of the journey. Looking forward to what we’ll build together. Let’s ride 🤝”
The tone is meaningless, but the timing is telling. The 27-year-old Slovenian is no longer just the sport’s dominant rider. He is also its most developed individual brand, a rider whose commercial value now moves in parallel with his results.
Last autumn, La Gazzetta dello Sport outlined the scale of that rise, placing his salary, bonuses and business activity in a bracket cycling has rarely seen.
According to La Gazzetta dello Sport, Pogačar's current UAE Team Emirates contract kicked in fully in 2024. It runs through 2030 at €8 million a season, with sizeable bonuses layered on top.
The same report put his off bike income at roughly €2 million a year at the time, coming from a stable of nine partners and a schedule that keeps most sponsor work for the quieter months.
It is a familiar spread for the superstar: bikes and kit, nutrition, lifestyle, even national promotion. Colnago, DMT, MET, Continental, Enervit, Jana, Plume, the Slovenian Tourism Board and MyWhoosh were all on the list. KuCoin is simply the newest name in that line.
And then there’s the Richard Mille partnership, which means Pogačar is sometimes riding around with a watch worth as much as a house on his wrist.
That growth has not happened by accident. Pogačar is managed by A&J All Sports and, by design, he has kept the marketing side from bleeding into his racing calendar. The work gets done when it suits him, not when it interrupts what matters.
The bigger shift is that Pogačar is no longer just a rider with sponsors. He is becoming a brand in his own right. Carera has spoken about his personal logo going from a novelty to a central asset, and the numbers back it up. Merchandise sales were reported at €1 million, double the year before, while limited edition releases, including a 300 bike Colnago run priced at €17,000, sold out fast.
Not everything feeds back into profit, either. Royalties from his Pissei gear line have been channelled into the Tadej Pogačar Foundation, supporting cancer research and a youth academy in Slovenia.
With KuCoin on board, the list gets longer. For Pogačar, that has become normal.
