The worlds of crypto and baseball are joining forces.
Baseball superstar Shohei Ohtani has joined cryptocurrency exchange FTX as a Global Ambassador.
As part of the long-term relationship, Ohtani will serve as a spokesperson to further elevate the FTX brand, increasing awareness of the company's platform and digital assets in general on a global scale through a variety of initiatives.
FTX committed to making an annual contribution on Ohtani's behalf to various charities.
The Japanese two-way phenom -- who starred in the 2015 WBSC Premier12 and 2012 WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup, and was named the 2015 WBSC Player of the Year -- will receive all of his compensation in equity and cryptocurrencies.
"As a company that is revolutionizing the digital asset ecosystem and greater financial landscape, we are continuously looking for partners that share our commitment to being a leader in their respective space," commented Sam Bankman-Fried, the Founder and CEO of FTX. "Shohei has become a transcendent player in baseball in just a short period of time, and this, combined with his support of digital assets, made it an easy choice to enter into a partnership with him. Off the field, Shohei has a passion for bettering the global community, something both he and FTX share, and we're excited to partner with Shohei on various charitable initiatives, particularly with a focus on helping animals."
FTX is the Official Cryptocurrency Exchange brand of MLB, through the first-ever partnership between a professional sports league and a cryptocurrency exchange, which was announced in June.
The Perth Heat of the Australian Baseball League (ABL) announced on the same day that they partnered with OpenNode to accept and send instant Bitcoin payments powered by the Lightning Network.
"By embracing the underlying values of the Bitcoin protocol, we believe that the organisation can reach new levels of success both on and off the field and remind the world of the true value of sports," said Steven Nelkovski, the Perth Heat CEO. "We know the community looks to the Perth Heat as a model of success, and we hope our adoption of a Bitcoin Standard will inspire others to embrace a monetary system that demands value creation to thrive."
The Heat will hold Bitcoin on the club's balance sheet and have appointed Patrick O'Sullivan to the position of Chief Bitcoin Officer.
"The club has already established an initial position in BTC to help secure its digital property rights on the world's most secure monetary network and will continue to reinvest available capital into Bitcoin," said O'Sullivan. "This is not a one-off purchase to hedge against future uncertainties or inflationary pressures. The Perth Heat are embracing the reality that the future of money and corporate treasuries will live on the Bitcoin blockchain."
