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NBA basketball franchise the Miami Heat today announced a long-term partnership with FTX, the cryptocurrency exchange co-founded by Sam Bankman-Fried and Gary Wang.
FTX had already signed a deal with the Heat to rename its home venue "FTX Arena." Now, it's being named the "the official and exclusive cryptocurrency exchange partner of the Miami Heat."
In addition to FTX being featured prominently within the stadium, it will also take part in contests and promotions, as well as link up with the "HEAT digital content series."
“Internet technology and digital finance are evolving incredibly quickly," said said FTX.us CEO Bankman-Fried in a press release. "We wanted to partner with a city and a franchise that are dynamic, diverse, innovative and always forward-looking.”
Miami mayor Francis Suarez has put the full court press on cryptocurrency and blockchain companies to relocate to the Magic City. In January of this year, he told the founders of crypto exchange Gemini that he wanted to make Miami "the most crypto competitive city on the planet."
Today's news goes beyond Suarez, however. The Heat specifically thanked Miami-Dade Country Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, her COO, and the entire board of county commissioners for helping make the partnership possible.
FTX is one of the largest crypto derivatives exchanges in the world despite launching just two years ago. It's registered more than $14 billion in trading volume in the last 24 hours, according to trading volume data from CoinMarketCap.