Bigo Live Streams Esports Tournament with Crypto Payment Rails
Bigo Live, a popular live streaming platform, has secured an official content partnership with the Esports World Cup 2026 for coverage in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. This deal gives Bigo Live exclusive activation rights around three of the most popular mobile titles in MENA: PUBG Mobile, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, and Honor of Kings.
The partnership is significant because it covers a major esports event featuring 25 separate events with a total prize pool of $75 million. The Esports World Cup 2026 will take place from July 2 through August 23, 2026, in Paris.
What's noteworthy here is that Bigo Live has already integrated cryptocurrency payment options for account top-ups, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, USDT, and USDC. This means that millions of MENA esports fans tuning in to watch the tournament on Bigo Live will be doing so on a platform with digital asset rails already in place.
This partnership highlights the growing importance of crypto payments in the gaming and esports industries. As traditional investors look for ways to get exposure to this trend without touching tokens directly, JOYY Inc., the parent company of Bigo Live, trades on NASDAQ under the ticker YY.