National Football League star quarterback Tom Brady and his wife, Gisele Bündchen, will each be taking an equity stake in FTX Trading Ltd., the company behind Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX.COM and FTX.US.
The couple will receive crypto as part of a deal that makes Brady an exchange ambassador and Bündchen FTX's environmental & social initiatives adviser, a press release Tuesday said. The specific financial terms of the long-term partnership with Bankman-Fried’s exchange company weren't disclosed. FTX subsidiary Blockfolio is also involved in the package.
"They have already opened their Blockfolio accounts to invest and trade the cryptocurrencies of their choice," FTX said in the statement.
The move is just the latest sports-related marketing tie-up for FTX. Last week, the company said it has entered a sponsorship deal with Major League Baseball that will put FTX advertising patches on all umpire uniforms starting next month. Blockfolio enlisted a far younger NFL quarterback, 2021 top draft pick Trevor Lawrence, in April in a deal that saw the former Clemson player take his pay in crypto.
Bankman-Fried and Brady spoke at length during CoinDesk’s Consensus 2021 last month.
The seven-time Super Bowl champion joked Monday that his "laser eyes didn’t work." The bitcoin meme still adorns his Twitter avatar, however.