Latin American crypto exchange Bitso has recently entered into a three-year sponsorship agreement with the Brazilian soccer team São Paulo Futebol Clube (SPFC).The news was first announced by the company on Friday.
According to the terms of the sponsorship, which will take effect this month, Bitso’s logo will appear on São Paulo’s official jersey. It will also appear as part of the Brazilian club’s Morumbi stadium which will be earmarked in a special area that will be named after the crypto exchange, Bitso’s VP of Marketing José Molina has revealed.
In Europe, it is not unusual for crypto companies to sponsor sports teams and the US is largely the same. However Latin America remains largely untapped for marketing tie-ups.
Bitso and São Paulo plan to enable payment by cryptocurrency for tickets and merchandise in six months, said Molina. The financial terms of the agreement between the two names has not yet been disclosed.
Bitso operates in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Mexico and has a total of 3.7 million users. Molina also added that Bitso aims to become the biggest crypto exchange in Brazil this year.
Mercado Bitcoin, Brazil’s largest crypto exchange, reached 3.2 million customers in that country last year, making the competition for the top spot tough.
Bitso has more than 30 job openings in Brazil with the aim of “growing rapidly.” The crypto exchange hired Facebook veteran Vaughan Smith in August last year to boost the company’s expansion in Brazil.
In May 2021, Bitso raised $250 million in a Series C at a $2.2 billion valuation, making it the first crypto unicorn (having value exceeding $1 billion) in Latin America.
