The new cooperation was announced on Wednesday by Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder and CEO of FTX and Alameda Research.
FTX has signed on as an official sponsor of Major League Baseball, paving the way for a wider acceptance of digital assets in the mainstream.
According to FTX founder and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, every Major League umpire will receive an FTX badge on their uniform as part of the sponsorship contract, which is scheduled to last at least five years.
The partnership is intended to expand in the future to include collaboration on the design of world-class brands.
“It’s not the only partnership we were considering, but the enthusiasm and creativity of the MLB team made it the one we were excited for,” he said.
1) We’re really excited to partner with @MLB!
FTX is now the official crypto sponsor of Major League Baseball.https://t.co/QngD1flayG
— SBF (@SBF_Alameda) June 23, 2021
“Big things are coming,” the MLB teased in a tweet just one day before the revelation. Since then, the tweet has garnered almost 12,900 likes.
Earlier this year, FTX made history by being the first cryptocurrency company to obtain the naming rights to a major sports venue. The derivatives exchange and Miami-Dade County agreed to name the Miami Heat’s home stadium FTX Arena for a period of 19 years.
The FTX brand appears in other domains as well. Earlier this month, the exchange reached a $210 million deal to have its name connected with global esports brand Team SoloMid. The esports brand is now referred to as TSM FTX.
FTX is now one of the top 15 cryptocurrency exchanges in the world in terms of real-time spot volumes. According to Messari, the exchange received more than $344 million in turnover in the last 24 hours.