The phenomenon of highly sought after trading slots during the Super Bowl took its toll on Coinbase.
The 60-second ad featured a floating QR code directing people to a link offering $15 worth of bitcoin to those who signed up for an account before February 15.
The ad was so popular that the app crashed for an hour.
Coinbase reported that it received more than 20 million visits to its site in a minute with a benchmark six times higher than previous ones.