Crypto Exchange OKX pays $ 20 million plus to sponsor the Manchester City training kit this season

The cryptocurrency exchange OKX doubles at Manchester City. On Sunday, the company announced that they had reached an agreement to expand their existing partnership and become the club’s official training package partner for the 2022-23 season. The deal will also see selected Manchester City players play the lead role in crypto-training content produced by OKX.

Financial terms were not disclosed, but a source says Forbes that the extended deal will give the reigning Premier League champions more than $ 20 million this season. Manchester City previously named OKX as its official cryptocurrency partner in March as part of a multimillion-dollar scheme. Forbes estimates the club is worth $ 4.25 billion, the sixth most valuable in the world.

Crypto-money has flowed into sports in recent years as the industry continues to develop a mainstream presence. FTX, for example, registered several top athletes, including Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady, Golden State Warriors star point guard Steph Curry and Los Angeles Angels two-way phenomenon Shohei Ohtani. In February, rival Manchester United sponsored blockchain company Tezos in a deal worth $ 27 million a year, according to The The Athletic. Last year, the French club Paris Saint-Germain added the fantoken supplier Socios.com and the trading platform Crypto.com as team sponsors. FIFA also announced in March that Crypto.com would be the “exclusive platform for the Qatar 2022 cryptocurrency trading platform.” A Nielsen report from earlier this year estimates that cryptocurrency spending in sports will rise to $ 5 billion by 2026.

But the recent decline in cryptocurrencies, which sent the value of Bitcoin below $ 20,000 in June, has cast doubt on the future of space. In June, Coinbase, BlockFi, Crypto.com and Gemini announced layoffs, resulting in the loss of nearly 1,700 jobs. BlockFi, which Pitchbook last valued at $ 4.8 billion, reportedly concludes a deal to be sold to FTX for $ 240 million, according to Yahoo Finance. Coinbase shares are down about 76% from the start of 2022. On the sports front, FTX put the brakes on a potential jersey patch sponsorship with the Los Angeles Angels, according to New York Post. The Washington Wizards also had an agreement with an unnamed crypto company.

“The market has definitely slowed down,” said veteran sports business consultant and Columbia lecturer Joe Favorito. He adds: “You have not seen a note come from a referee’s uniform or the name removed from an arena. But the extra expenses have definitely been cut down, whether it’s big ads and things like the NBA Finals. “

In the meantime, OKX is continuing with expansion plans, despite the decline. In addition to the Manchester City partnership, the company’s chief financial officer recently told CoinDesk that they plan to increase the workforce by 30% with a goal of reaching a staff of 5,000. Fidelity Digital Assets and Binance have also announced similar intentions in recent months. “OKX’s investments in our partners and our team are market agnostic because our principles and beliefs have not changed,” said OKX Marketing Manager Haider Rafique. “We want to choose partners who reflect this focus, which means we did not use the bull run to make sports deals at an unsustainable pace.”

OKX was founded in 2017 by the encryption contractor Star Xu, and operates in more than 180 markets internationally and has over 20 million users. Based in the Republic of Seychelles, it is the second largest crypto exchange by derivatives and spot trading volume. In 2021, OKX says it processed more than 25 billion trades with volumes over $ 21 trillion.