Bitso joins other crypto exchanges and begins sponsoring sports

Mexican crypto exchange platform Bitso announced today that it will sponsor the Club Tigres soccer team, which is based in Monterrey, in the northeastern Mexican state of Nuevo Leon, and has a market value of $65 million.

This news comes at a time when other crypto-related companies are investing millions in sports sponsorships.

Barely a week ago, Hong Kong-based Crypto.com announced that it had acquired the naming rights of the historic Staples Center in Los Angeles, California, for US$700 million. It will be named Crypto.com for 20 years.

Last July, this same company signed a sponsorship agreement for US$175 million with the UFC. And a month before, it partnered with the Formula 1. Other partnerships from Crypto.com involve the NHL Montreal Canadiens hockey team, and the Paris Saint-Germain FC soccer team.

FTX, a rival of Crypto.com, also recently acquired the naming rights of the Miami Heat basketball stadium, in a US$135 million deal that will last for 19 years.

These sponsorships have also been happening in Latin America. Last September, Brazilian exchange Mercado Bitcoin became a sponsor of the popular soccer team Club Corinthians. Almost at the same time, decrypto.la announced it would partner with Atlético Huracán, a first-division soccer club in Argentina.

This sponsorship trend that Bitso is hopping on is a strategy from the crypto industry to leverage on its presence in the sports world. In short, it is a smart move to make cryptocurrencies mainstream faster.

Sports fans are twice as likely to be familiarized with crypto, since this industry has a strong digital presence; from video games to players’ social media profiles and merchandising, including NFTs and other digital memorabilia.

A Mexican crypto exchange dives into sports

Now it is Bitso’s turn to enter the sports industry. The Mexican exchange, valued at $2.2 billion, already leads crypto operations in Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, and El Salvador’s crypto wallet. The Club Tigres’ sponsorship is clearly a part of its growth plan. 

The company said in the press conference that with this new sponsorship, it will begin exploring new opportunities to accept crypto payments in the Club Tigres store. 

Bitso is also considering the possibility of paying the players’ salary in digital currencies, as well as acquiring or selling players with crypto-based deals. 

This announcement comes after Bitso partnered with Circle to facilitate transnational payments between Mexico and the United States. With all this movement, the Mexican crypto unicorn is accelerating its growth and pushing forth the crypto expansion in LatAm simultaneously with the rest of the world.