FTX is one of the leading cryptocurrency exchanges in the world and has spent millions of dollars on advertising in recent months.
The founder and CEO of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange, Sam Bankman-Fried, has revealed that the company spends a lot on marketing because it lags behind the other leading platforms in terms of popularity.
Bankman-Fried spoke at the Decrypt and Yahoo Finance Crypto Goes mainstream event earlier this week. In doing so, he explained that most people entering the cryptocurrency space for the first time do not consider FTX as their first choice. He continued to:
“There has been some user growth, but we really need to catch up on name recognition. We’ve been at it for two and a half years. The time span is much less long than some other big names in the crypto exchange business. When someone first tries to delve into crypto, we found that most have never heard of FTX.“
FTX has spent billions of dollars on acquisitions, marketing, partnerships and sponsorship in recent months. These have contributed to the growth of the cryptocurrency exchange. It now has a valuation of $25 billion, higher than the $2.5 billion it was worth during this period last year.
The cryptocurrency exchange has spent a lot on marketing, especially in the sports world. She spent $135 million to buy the naming rights to the NBA’s Miami Heat arena, now known as FTX Arena.
FTX has also acquired esports team TSM for $210 million: the largest acquisition in the history of eSports. Other sponsorships and partnerships include the $17.5 million paid for the naming rights to Cal Memorial Stadium, which became Major League Baseball’s official cryptocurrency exchange, and more.
The cryptocurrency exchange also expanded its presence in the cryptocurrency space. It completed the acquisition of the futures and options exchange LedgerX and enabled FTX.US, to provide futures trading services in the United States. FTX also expanded into the NFT space following the launch of its Solana-focused NFT marketplace.
Regarding NFTs, Bankman-Fried said;
“NFTs have experienced an absolute explosion in usage in the last six months. But the field is still mainly driven by the crypto industry and not by newcomers.“
The CEO of FTX finally admitted that he would have liked to have entered the cryptocurrency space earlier due to the numerous opportunities on the market.