Before the collapse, FTX was looking to expand its list of sponsorship deals.
FTX, a now-bankrupt Bahamas-based cryptocurrency exchange established by Sam Bankman-Fried, was reportedly aiming to sign a $100 million sponsorship deal with pop star Taylor Swift.
According to the news report shared by Financial Times, the negotiations with the superstar were allegedly in the “late stages” when the talks finally “fizzled out.”
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It is reported that FTX and Taylor Swift were negotiating ticketing arrangements with digital certificates in the form of non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
The talks about the deal started in the autumn of 2021 and fell apart in the spring of 2022. The employees familiar with the matter stated that the Taylor Swift sponsorship deal was too expensive and forced FTX to question whether it would give true benefit to the company.
Several members of the FTX marketing team were opposing the idea, with a person familiar with the negotiations stating, “no one really liked the deal. It was too expensive from the beginning. That’s front of the soccer jersey level prices.”
On top of that, FTX staff were worried that Taylor Swift might not be able to reach FTX s targeted demographics of crypto investors.
Before filing for bankruptcy on November 11th, FTX signed multiple deals with celebrities from various fields. The company had sponsorship deals with NFL player Tom Brady, tennis player Naomi Osaka, basketball players Shaquille O’Neal and Steph Curry, supermodel Gisele Bündchen.
However, it seems that now, celebrities may encounter consequences for advertising FTX. On November 22nd, Bloomberg reported that The Texas State Securities Board is looking into investigating several celebrities, including Steph Curry and Tom Brady, for their promotions of the bankrupt crypto exchange, FTX.
The regulator will look into “what the promoters disclosed, how they were compensated and how their promotions were scripted and filmed.”
This is not the first time celebrities have had to deal with negative consequences for participating in crypto-related matters. After almost a year, Kim Kardashian and Floyd Mayweather have been acquitted from the EthereaumMax class action lawsuit.
