IZEA Begins Accepting Bitcoin and Ethereum Payments for

Orlando, Florida, Jan. 11, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — IZEA Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ: IZEA), the premier provider of influencer marketing technology, data, and services for the world’s leading brands, announced today that it now accepts Bitcoin and Ethereum as payments for its influencer marketing services. IZEA will also begin paying select influencers in cryptocurrency for campaigns where it has received cryptocurrency as payment from marketers.

In a recent survey of one thousand U.S participants, IZEA found that influencers are early adopters of cryptocurrency: 65% of influencers who participated in the study already own cryptocurrency, and 50% expressed an interest in being paid in cryptocurrency for their content creation.

With today’s announcement, IZEA, a pioneer in the influencer marketing industry, answers that call by allowing leading brands to pay in cryptocurrency for managed services campaigns.

“IZEA first embraced cryptocurrency in 2018 with our initial cryptocurrency mining operations of alt coins,” said Ted Murphy, founder and CEO of IZEA. “We believed then that blockchain would be instrumental as the Internet continued to evolve, and we were correct in that regard – though the space faced many legal uncertainties at the time. As the space has evolved and crypto exchanges have been vetted, validated, and regulated, we seek to return to the space and this is the first step along that path.”

“Recent changes in the crypto market present an interesting opportunity for IZEA,” continued Murphy. “BTC and ETH are both down significantly from their all-time highs. We would rather begin this offering at a time when these assets are trading at a discount to the high water mark, rather than at a time of record high prices.”

IZEA’s initial mining operations were focused on alternative coins that the company later converted to Bitcoin and Ethereum. The company currently holds both BTC and ETH and has benefitted from the appreciation of these assets as their values have increased over the years.

“IZEA created the influencer marketing industry in 2006,” Murphy said. “Our industry will continue to evolve, and we intend to persistently pioneer new types of influencer collaborations on emerging platforms as it does. The move to accept Bitcoin and Ethereum and begin paying influencers in cryptocurrency opens new doors, and will likely play a pivotal role in future influencer collaborations in the metaverse.”

To start a crypto powered influencer marketing campaign visit IZEA.com.

About IZEA

IZEA Worldwide, Inc. (“IZEA”) is a marketing technology company providing software and professional services that enable brands to collaborate and transact with the full spectrum of today’s top social influencers and content creators. The company serves as a champion for the growing Creator Economy, enabling individuals to monetize their content, creativity, and influence. IZEA launched the industry’s first-ever influencer marketing platform in 2006 and has since facilitated nearly 4 million transactions between online buyers and sellers. Leading brands and agencies partner with IZEA to increase digital engagement, diversify brand voice, scale content production, and drive measurable return on investment.

Safe Harbor Statement

All statements in this release that are not based on historical fact are “forward-looking statements” intended to qualify for the safe harbor from liability established by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements, which are based on certain assumptions and describe our future plans, strategies and expectations, can generally be identified by the use of forward-looking terms such as “may,” “will,” “would,” “could,” “should,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “hope,” “estimate,” “believe,” “intend,” “likely,” “projects,” “plans,” “pursue,” “strategy” or “future,” or the negative of these words or other words or expressions of similar meaning. Examples of forward-looking statements include, among others, statements we make regarding expectations concerning IZEA’s ability to increase revenue and bookings, growth or maintenance of customer relationships, and expectations concerning IZEA’s business strategy. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements, as a result of various factors including, among others, the following: competitive conditions in the content and social sponsorship segment in which IZEA operates; failure to popularize one or more of the marketplace platforms of IZEA; our ability to establish effective disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting; our ability to satisfy the requirements for continued listing of our common stock on the Nasdaq Capital Market; changing economic conditions that are less favorable than expected; and other risks and uncertainties described in IZEA’s periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The forward-looking statements made in this release speak only as of the date of this release, and IZEA assumes no obligation to update any such forward-looking statements to reflect actual results or changes in expectations, except as otherwise required by law.