In brief
- Tom Brady and Gisele Bündchen have invested in crypto exchange FTX.
- This marks the latest in a long line of events bringing the worlds of sport and crypto ever closer.
NFL quarterback Tom Brady and his supermodel wife Gisele Bündchen have invested in crypto exchange FTX.
“It’s an incredibly exciting time in the crypto-world and Sam and the revolutionary FTX team continue to open my eyes to the endless possibilities,” Brady said in a statement, adding that the couple’s investment showed the importance of “educating people about the power of crypto while simultaneously giving back to our communities and planet.”
Describing himself as a “big believer” in crypto, Brady said that, “I don’t think it’s going anywhere.”
Brady and Bündchen have reportedly taken an equity stake in the crypto exchange as part of a long-term partnership. Yet their investment in FTX is far from Brady’s first brush with the crypto scene.
Brady and crypto
Brady has already embedded himself deep within the crypto industry, launching his own NFTs and adopting the symbolic Bitcoin laser eyes as his Twitter profile pic.
In April, Brady launched NFT platform Autograph with several of the world’s biggest tech and sports companies, including Apple, Draftkings and Spotify. The platform aims to “bring together some of the world’s most iconic names and brands with the best in class digital artists to ideate, create and launch NFTs.”
Just a few weeks later, a Tom Brady rookie card sold for $1.7 million worth of Litecoin.
“Tom and Gisele are both legends and they both reached the pinnacle of what they do,” FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried told Bloomberg, adding that, “This isn’t the first time that they’ve been involved in crypto, not the first time they’ve thought about it or even used it, which I think makes it a much more natural and authentic partnership.”
FTX and sports
In turn, this isn’t FTX’s first brush with the sporting world.
In Miami (where Mayor Suarez is focused on creating the world’s next crypto hub), FTX has signed a long term partnership with the Miami Heat NBA franchise. The crypto exchange had already signed a deal with the Heat to rename its home stadium the FTX Arena.
“We wanted to partner with a city and a franchise that are dynamic, diverse, innovative and always forward-looking,” Bankman-Fried said at the time.