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FTX.US Wins the 10-yr Naming Right of UC-Berkeley's Facility by Sponsoring $17.5M in Crypto

The American cryptocurrency exchange giant FTX sponsors the University of California, Berkeley (UCB) with $17.5 million in cryptocurrency in exchange for getting the 10-year naming right of the California Memorial Stadium.

This is the first time in history to sponsor the field naming rights of a university in crypto. The California Memorial Stadium will be called FTX Field of California Memorial Stadium in the future.

According to the official announcement, the funding for this sponsorship will be received by Learfield, an inter-school sports media and technology service company, as the representative of the University of California Berkeley to get full payment from the FTX.US cryptocurrency.

The athletic department of UCB, Cal Athletics, and FTX stated that the funds obtained this time would support the development of student-athletes at Cameron College and establish a community participation program designed to help athletes understand public service and success.

Cal Director of Athletics Jim Knowlton said that:

“This agreement extends well beyond field naming rights, which is part of our strategic plan to diversify revenue streams in support of our student-athlete experience and includes commitments for our Cameron Institute, Cal Veterans, and students in need here in Berkeley. We are looking forward to building our relationship now and in the years ahead.”

As the COO of FTX.US, Sina Nader also completed his undergraduate legal studies at UCB and was a Golden Bears football team member.

Nader said an additional $200,000 would be added to the cooperation, according to the agreement. The sponsorship specializes in helping the homeless people in Berkeley and supporting organisations by helping underrepresented student groups at the University of California, Berkeley. He revealed that:

“We’re excited to partner with one of the world’s great universities and expand crypto’s presence into the collegiate athletics landscape. This historic partnership will also allow us to collaborate on charitable initiatives that align with our organization’s core values.”

In addition, the FTX derivative exchange has been committed to the involvement of cryptocurrency in sports competitions. In March of this year, the exchange won the naming rights of the NBA team’s home stadium of the Miami Heat for a price of $135 million.

On July 21, Blockchain.News reported that FTX broke the cryptocurrency financing record with a $900 million financing and joined the ranks of cryptocurrency exchange unicorns with a Market Cap valued at $18 billion.

FTX.US Exchange Acquires Regulated Derivatives Provider LedgerX

FTX.US, the United States subsidiary of FTX Derivatives Exchange, has announced the acquisition of LedgerX- a Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) licensed derivatives and options service provider.

As contained in the official announcement, the financial commitment of the deal remains undisclosed, and it is pending the satisfaction of customary closing conditions.

As a major player in the global cryptocurrency derivatives market, FTX exchange as a brand has grown its numbers, with a notable average daily trading volume of over $18 billion. Under the leadership of CEO Sam Bankman Fried, the exchange pulled over $900 million funding from investors, a capital boost that was available to push forth the company’s expansion and M&A activities.

As a regulated Designated Contract Market (DCM), Swap Execution Facility (SEF), and Derivatives Clearing Organization (DCO), the acquisition of LedgerX will let the companies build on this regulatory backing to expand its offerings to both retail and institutional investors alike. While harnessing the strength of its current customer base, the FTX brand influence is billed to enable the startup to increase its scope in the competitive industry.

Zach Dexter, CEO and Co-Founder of LedgerX, said:

“US crypto derivatives is an incredibly underserved market, and it took time and resources for us to become a regulated entity under the existing frameworks. FTX.US has taken the view, which we share, that US regulators are ready and willing to partner on innovative products, and it’s the responsibility of the industry as a whole to step up and work with agencies like the CFTC,”

Most cryptocurrency firms have found maintaining a positive business environment in the United States difficult over time. With regulators like the CFTC and its regulatory demands, many firms have been caught up in the commission’s bad books.

According to an earlier report by Blockchain.news, the BitMex derivatives exchange recently agreed to a $100 million settlement to the CFTC alongside the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) for allegations bordering illegal business operations.

Known for its strategic acquisitions, assuming ownership of LedgerX will give the FTX brand a free ride to operate in the US without fears of a clampdown.

FTX Completes $420M Series B-1 Funding Round at $25B Valuation

FTX Derivatives Exchange has completed a $420.69 million Series B-1 funding with participation from top investors.

As announced by the firm, these investors include the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board, via its Teachers’ Innovation Platform, Temasek, Sequoia Capital, Sea Capital, IVP, ICONIQ Growth, Tiger Global, Ribbit Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and funds and accounts managed by BlackRock.

The funding round came just after the company raised $1 billion back in July 2021. Following this latest funding round, the Bahamas-based outfit has increased its valuation to $25 billion, further extending its position as a unicorn in the digital currency ecosystem. The company said it is going to deploy the new funds in expanding its product offerings and pushing forth into new markets globally. Ramnik Arora, Head of Product at FTX, said:

“The additional capital and group of investors will let us provide the experience our users deserve and address other adjacent market opportunities including equities, prediction markets, NFTs, and videogame partnerships. We expect to make strategic investments designed to grow the business and expand our regulatory coverage,”

While FTX has also had to adjust its operations in line with regulatory pressures globally, the company has inked several milestones that have positioned it on its next growth phase. Since its last funding round, the Sam Bankman-Fried led organization has established its headquarters in the Bahamas while also securing licenses under new regulatory frameworks in both the Bahamas and Gibraltar.

The firm is also strategic in its product offerings as it has floated an NFT marketplace, a growing trend amongst major digital currency exchanges today. Known for its Merger & Acquisition acquisitions, the company acquired Blockfolio through a record-breaking $150 million deal at the time, and its US affiliate, FTX.US, also acquired CFTC regulated clearinghouse, LedgerX.

While the company did not declare any plans to make any acquisition with the latest capital injection, doing so will not be out of place in its push to expand its reach in the industry.

FTX Secures Global Sponsorship Deal With Golden State Warriors, Estimated $10M Worth

FTX Derivatives Exchange has inked a global sponsorship deal with professional NBA basketball team Golden State Warriors, a move that will provide FTX brand presence throughout the team’s stadium called the ‘Chase Center’.

CNBC reported, citing people familiar with the transaction, that the deal is a multi-year pact estimated to be worth about $10 million.

Besides the brand presence at the Chase Center, FTX will also be prominently featured at the Warriors G League and NBA 2K team and digital floor ads during RSN games.

“FTX is a company that caught our eyes a couple of months ago,” Warrior president and chief operating officer Brandon Schneider said in an interview with CNBC. “We think we’re at the beginning of the beginning. We’re all learning, and this space will evolve quite a bit,” Schneider added.

FTX is notably amongst the top digital currency trading platforms that are taking advantage of the allowance to ink sponsorship deals with NBA clubs. Beyond the NBA, the Sam Bankman-Fried led global entity recently entered into a $17.5 million 10-year naming right of the California Memorial Stadium with the University of California, Berkeley (UCB).

Digital currency service providers are bent on pushing their brand awareness to the mainstream. Firms like Crypto.com and Coinbase also have a strong presence in the advertisement terrain in the United States. Based on the industry’s infancy in general, many critics are advocating caution as these trading platforms push their offerings to members of the public.

The position maintained by some is that cryptocurrencies, as it is today, is similar to the push in the Dot Com era where startups in the space folded upright after going on the offensive in branding the way crypto firms are doing today.

“I see similarities of the behaviour on the front end of a bubble,” said Peter Laatz, global managing director at sponsorship valuation firm IEG. “The behaviours of the rush-to-spend and the influx of cash coming in with naming rights at a league-wide level with still some consumer confusion about what the product is – it’s very similar to the dot-com bubble.”

Either way, the growth trajectory of the crypto ecosystem appears sustainable, and for now, crypto ads and branding have come to stay.

Image source: Shuttstock

FTX.US Has Opened a New Headquarters in Chicago

FTX US has opened its headquarters in Chicago as it seeks to strengthen its business and solidify its base with United States regulators.

The exchange, which is a subsidiary of FTX Derivatives Exchange, said the location of its new office is in the Fulton Market neighbourhood in the new 167 Green Building and will be home to seventy employees.

The establishment of a regional headquarter for a trading platform is considered one of the most visible gestures to show regulators it is ready to be scrutinized. While FTX US follows the digital model of offering its services online, the outlet is one step closer to its bid to go public in the US in the near future.

The new location of FTX US comes with a special benefit for residents of Chicago as the trading platform has partnered with Equity and Transformation (EAT), a not-for-profit organization, to provide $500 per month in supplemental income, financial literacy education, a zero fee bank account with access to investment products and a Visa debit card, to 100 Chicagoans.

“FTX US is proud to make the city of Chicago our headquarters,” said Brett Harrison, President of FTX US. “The city has long fostered innovation in financial technology. As we work to situate ourselves within that history, we’re even more proud to use our success as a rapidly growing regulated digital assets exchange to have a positive local impact.

“This is why we’re thrilled to announce our partnership with Equity and Transformation to support underbanked communities in Chicago by giving them access to $500 per month in supplemental income, financial literacy education, and a zero fee bank account among other benefits. We look forward to growing here, both as a company and as a resource for those who have been underserved financially throughout Chicago.”

The move to establish its headquarters in Chicago comes off as one of the growth measures of the trading platform after the parent company raised $400 million at a $32 billion valuation.

FTX US Acquires Clearing Firm Embed, Enhancing its Stock Offerings

FTX US is deepening its hold as it looks to hit it off on the right foot with regulators concerning its new stock product offerings.

In doing this, the firm has announced the acquisition of Embed Financial Technologies Inc., including its wholly-owned subsidiary Embed Clearing LLC for an undisclosed sum.

According to the trading platform, the acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals. The acquisition is mutually beneficial for both companies as FTX US brings massive capital to help Embed scale and meet its brokerage and clearing obligations.

The company offers brokerage services and APIs to licensed brokers and registered investment advisors. Prior to this time, it counted FTX US as one of its numerous clients. The startup is a new FINRA, DTC, NSCC, Nasdaq, and IEX member clearing firm.

“As I mentioned when we launched FTX Stocks, our new equities and ETF trading platform, our goal at FTX is to provide a comprehensive trading application that spans all asset classes,” said FTX US President, Brett Harrison, “For equities and options trading this necessarily includes services such as clearing and custody, and our partnership with Embed showed us that they have built excellent technology and infrastructure to provide these services. We’re looking forward to working together to integrate both our teams and our technology as we continue to build FTX Stocks.”

FTX US is growing amongst the ranks, and it became a unicorn back in March when it raised the sum of $400 million at an $8 billion valuation.

The trading platform has a distinct interest in Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) activities. The acquisition of Embed is not the first of its kind, as it completed the purchase of LedgerX, a Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) regulated clearing house.

FTX and FTX.US Looking to Raise New Funds after Acquisition Campaign

FTX Derivatives Exchange and its American subsidiary FTX.US are exploring the options to raise new sets of funds after the duo injected the bulk of the funds they raised earlier in the year into supporting distressed crypto companies.

As reported by Bloomberg, citing anonymous sources, the global FTX trading platform is looking to raise an almost equivalent amount it pulled earlier this year. As reported earlier by Blockchain.News, FTX concluded its Series C funding round in January, where it raised the sum of $400 million to increase its valuation to $32 billion.

FTX.US has also been active in the equity round scene, receiving $400 million in funding to top $8 billion in valuation. Riding on the back of this capital injection, FTX.US has notably acquired Embed Financial Technologies Inc., including its wholly-owned subsidiary Embed Clearing LLC for an undisclosed sum back in June, a move that aligned with its corporate strategy at the time.

By acting as a lender of last resort, FTX Global has positioned itself as a firm where distressed companies in the digital currency ecosystem run to.

Since the menacing turmoil that has caused several crypto lending platforms to halt transactions on their platform atop a deep-cut liquidity crisis, FTX Global has come to the aid of BlockFi and Voyager Digital, which are very large sums of money, including the $250 million credit facility extended to the former.

While Sam Bankman-Fried, FTX co-founder and CEO, acknowledged that the firm also has many more crypto firms it has helped without disclosing yet, it appears the two FTX arms will be better off with the proposed fundraising.

Known as one of the most liquid and profitable companies in the Web3.0 ecosystem nowadays, the attractiveness of the two FTX offshoots is still very much known to investors who may also bet on the future of the exchange yet again.

FDIC Calls Out FTX US, Other Crypto Firms to Stop Misleading Users About Deposit Protection

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), a US government agency tasked with stabilizing the financial system in the event of bank failures, on Friday issued five cease-and-desist letters demanding five crypto-related firms stop making false and misleading statements about the availability of deposit insurance for their clients.

The FDIC ordered five firms behind certain crypto websites — including FTX US, Cryptonews.com, Cryptosec.info, SmartAsset.com, and FDICCrypto.com — to “take immediate corrective action to address false or misleading statements concerning whether their customers’ funds were insured by the federal agency.”

Under the Federal Deposit Insurance Act, the FDIC has the power to prohibit use of the agency’s name or logo to imply customer funds are government insured when they are not.

In a statement, the regulator said: “Based upon evidence collected by the FDIC, each of these companies made false representations —including on their websites and social media accounts — stating or suggesting that certain crypto-related products are FDIC-insured or that stocks held in brokerage accounts are FDIC-insured.”

Concerning the case surrounding FTX.US, the FDIC’s letter cited a tweet from FTX. US President Brett Harrison that claims “direct deposits from employers to FTX and stocks are held in FDIC-insured accounts.”

For the other case, the cease-and-desist letter pointed out that SmartAsset.com identified FTX as an FDIC-insured exchange.

In general, the agency regulator said such claims are false and misleading statements implying that uninsured products are FDIC-insured.

The letters directed the above-mentioned companies to immediately remove the statements that suggest any firms deposited with FTX are FDIC-insured.

FDIC has given 15 days to these crypto-related firms to provide written confirmation that they have complied with the requests.

So far, FTX.US and SmartAsset.com have responded and said they have removed such content from their respective company’s online presence.

Harrison tweeted on Friday that he deleted the post and said the content didn’t mean to indicate that crypto assets deposited in FTX are insured by the FDIC, but rather “USD deposits from employers were held at insured banks.”

SmartAsset CEO and co-founder Michael Carvin also stated: “We are in communication with the FDIC to assess the matter and have removed the content at issue in the meantime.”

Controversy Surrounding Voyager

Late last month, FDIC issued a Financial Institution Advisory Letter informing the general public that the regulator does not insure assets issued by non-banking institutions like crypto companies.

On 29th July, FDIC clashed with cryptocurrency brokerage Voyager Digital when it ordered the crypto lender to stop telling clients that their deposits are protected from losses by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. The agency informed the public that such claims are not true.

Voyager mentioned its federally insured status on its website, social media accounts, and mobile app, the agency revealed.

FDIC said Voyager violated the Federal Deposit Insurance Act, which prohibits anyone from implying that deposits are insured when they are not.

Voyager Digital has a bank account with Metropolitan Commercial Bank of New York. The FDIC said that the account is insured.

But the agency clarified that customers opening and using accounts on the Voyager Digital platform are not insured.

Former CFTC Commissioner Joins FTX.US Board

FTX.US, the United States subsidiary of FTX Derivatives Exchange, has announced the appointment of Jill Sommers to its Board of Directors.

Sommers served as a 2-term commissioner of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) as nominated by both former Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama and was confirmed twice by the US Senate.

As an experienced Policy Adviser in the Derivatives ecosystem, Sommers brings her years of experience to the crypto exchange, which is aiming at establishing its stance as one of the foremost regulated crypto exchanges and Clearinghouses.

“I am honored to be joining the FTX US Derivatives Board of Directors to advance the mission of reshaping market structure in the United States,” Sommers said in a statement, “The company has been at the forefront of bridging the gap between traditional and digital assets while staying true to its founding principles of transparency and leading the charge toward becoming the most regulated digital asset exchange in the world. I’m excited to join the board as we continue working closely with regulators to further establish FTX US Derivatives as the premier regulated crypto derivatives trading platform.”

Since it finalized the acquisition of LedgerX, which it has renamed FTX US Derivatives, it has been offering users crypto-related options and swaps contracts. Besides pioneering Bitcoin mini contracts, FTX US Derivatives also offers physical settlement of all contracts, block trading and algorithmic trading opportunities for institutional investors, and direct access for all traders.

According to CEO Zach Dexter, Sommers’ inclusion on its board will help guide the company as it looks to make a more ambitious plunge into the broader financial ecosystem.

Exchanges are becoming fond of onboarding government officials with deep regulatory experiences to help steer their regulatory push. In like manner, One River Digital Asset Management appointed Jay Clayton to its Advisory board after he stepped down from his role as the Chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

GameStop Announces Partnership with FTX US

GameStop, the world’s largest video game retailer headquartered in Texas, USA, announced that it has entered into a partnership with FTX US (“FTX”) to become FTX’s preferred retail partner in the United States.

The partnership aims to promote “FTX’s digital asset community and marketplace” and bring more GameStop customers into FTX’s ecosystem.

In addition to partnering with FTX on new e-commerce and online marketing campaigns, GameStop will begin rolling out FTX gift cards at select stores.

Specific financial information was not disclosed to the public.

Shares of GameStop rose nearly 12% to $26.84 a share in after-hours trading following the news, even though GameStop reported an almost 4% drop in net sales for the quarter to $1.14 billion.

The company reported revenue of $1.14 billion in the second quarter as of July 30. Operating loss for the quarter was $108 million compared to -$58 million a year ago.

The latest earnings data showed that its second-quarter loss was 35 cents per share on an adjusted basis, below the average Wall Street analyst estimate of 38 cents per share.

Although GameStop reported lower net sales for the quarter, the partnership with FTX US attracted an influx of buyers, with GameStop’s jumping 11.06% to $26.48 in after-hours trading.

On a recent GameStop earnings call, Furlong said the company has started working on updating the brand and driving growth. He revealed that the company had developed a redesigned app, its rewards program has attracted new users, and it has hired employees with backgrounds in e-commerce and blockchain gaming.

At the end of May, the video game retailer launched a digital asset wallet for sending, receiving and storing cryptocurrencies and NFTs,

In July, Video game retailer GameStop Corp announced Monday the launch of a public beta version of a non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace amid the crypto market’s downturn.