BitMex, one of the largest crypto derivative exchanges, has announced a partnership with the soccer team AC Milan as its first-ever sleeve partner and its first official cryptocurrency trading partner in a move that is expected to take Bitmex to the fans of the club.
The crypto race seems to have well and truly begun as on the one hand, we are seeing increased regulatory troubles for Binance and on the other hand, we are seeing exchanges like FTX and BitMex vying with each other to sponsor sports and gaming teams as they believe that the fans of these sporting clubs are like to come over to crypto trading when faced with a choice. Almost all crypto-related businesses seem to be targeting sports lovers and this seems to be an interesting marketing strategy.
Alexander Höptner, CEO of BitMEX, said: “Our partnership with AC Milan is the start of a hugely exciting new chapter for BitMEX as we look to ramp up brand awareness and increase understanding of crypto. AC Milan is one of the world’s most progressive football clubs, and combined with its rich footballing heritage boasts extraordinary reach and engagement with fans globally. We felt we’d come home when we started talking to the Club, and we can’t wait to start interacting with the global Rossoneri family.”
This does seem to be a branding exercise for BitMex as it seeks to grow and expand beyond the borders of the USA as it comes under scrutiny from a variety of regulators and it also faces a lot of competition from other new exchanges that have cropped up over the last couple of years. So it was important for BitMex to continue to stay relevant and one of its main reasons for spreading its wings was to look for newer markets to sustain the revenue flow.
The partnership would officially begin on August 23 in the match between AC Milan and Sampdoria and going forward, it would be interesting to see the impact of the brand-building exercise of BitMex who’s founder has been in the news over the last few months for all the wrong reasons. But with a renewed push on its marketing and sales side, the exchange had announced its decision to go beyond the derivatives space, for the first time since its launch which shows that it considers its future growth seriously and is ready to make even the fundamental changes to its offering to achieve its goals.
