Is FTX's big MLB bet paying off?

If you’ve watched the 2021 World Series, you’ve seen a lot of signage and commercials for FTX.

In June, the company announced a partnership with Major League Baseball to become the official cryptocurrency exchange of MLB. It was a groundbreaking deal that resulted in signage behind home plate, commercials that have aired during the World Series, and logo patches on the umpires’ uniforms.

The deal has certainly raised awareness of the exchange, which was undoubtedly the goal of the partnership, but when it comes to FTX’s own crypto token, investors haven’t been swayed by the advertising blitz.

FTX, the token, was trading at $62.59 at the time of the first pitch in Game One between the Atlanta Braves and Houston Astros. In the first three games of the series, preliminary viewership has averaged between 9.37 million and 11.1 million viewers.

But the FTX token (which trades under FTT) has actually lost about 5% of its value, falling to $59.25 in midmorning trading Tuesday.

To be clear, the token is not the entirety of FTX’s business. It is, according to its white paper, a fundraising device “for people who want to help grow FTX.”

And, year to date, the token has seen sizable gains, with its value increasing 917%. The audience, though, would appear to be die-hard crypto traders, not baseball fans.

Of course, FTX’s own token doesn’t have to soar for the company to succeed. Should it manage to entice some fans to invest in other, more mainstream cryptos, such as Bitcoin or Ethereum, the company (whose investors include Tom Brady and Gisele Bündchen) would still profit.