Esports organization TSM has announced that it is suspending its relationship with FTX, the major cryptocurrency exchange it signed a $210 million sponsorship deal with in 2021. The announcement comes just two days after TSM said it was "consulting legal counsel" on how to proceed in the wake of the crypto company's sudden, spectacular collapse into bankruptcy.
"After monitoring the evolving situation and discussing internally, we're suspending our partnership with FTX effective immediately," TSM said in a statement. "This means that FTX branding will no longer appear on any of our org, team, and player social media profiles, and will also be removed from our player jerseys. This process may take some time to complete as some social platforms have made changes to their product features."
TSM signed a 10-year, $210 million naming rights deal with FTX in June 2021, resulting in a name change to TSM FTX. But FTX fell into disarray in early November after investigations into the company's financial health sparked a run that led to $6 billion of withdrawal requests over just three days.
The logo on the TSM website has already been changed to remove FTX, but it remains in place on Twitter for now because of the ongoing chaos at the social media company, which is preventing at least some verified users from changing their names.
Forbes ranked TSM as the world's most valuable esports org earlier this year, although ironically some of that $540 million valuation arose from the FTX deal. Despite that, the company said in today's statement that it remains "a strong, profitable, and stable organization," and said the FTX mess will not have an impact on its operating plan.
TSM isn't the only sports organization to sever ties with FTX over the past week: Brazilian esports organization Furia, which signed a one-year deal worth $3.2 million with FTX in April, pulled the plug on November 11, as did the Miami Heat of the National Basketball Association. The NBA's Golden State Warriors followed suit a few days later.
