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The Goldens Bears’ stadium will now be referred to as ‘FTX Area at Memorial Stadium,’ in a crypto deal that’s both a trailblazing innovation, or a slush fund for future ransomware assaults.
Crypto bros shall be much more un-’bear’-ably smug and mansplainy than typical as we speak, as their type of alleged digital cash has notched a brand new milestone. The Chronicle experiences that UC Berkeley has struck a 10-year, $17.5 million stadium naming rights deal with a cryptocurrency exchange. The crypto trade known as FTX, who already purchased the naming rights to the Miami Warmth area earlier this year, and in line with Cal Berkeley, that is the primary ever cryptocurrency sponsorship of a school stadium title.
Whereas the Chronicle experiences this deal “shall be paid for completely in cryptocurrency,” and that’s the hype that Elon apostles will need you to consider, the Mercury News clarifies “The settlement was brokered by Learfield, Cal’s multimedia rights companion,” and that “FTX will use cryptocurrency to pay Learfield, which is able to then make annual funds to Cal in money.” So the college is getting precise cash right here, somewhat than a speculative type of blockchain astrology.
And this can be a first rate deal for Cal, so far as naming rights go for a 60,000-ish seat school stadium. Clearly professional groups pull down vastly extra on naming rights offers, and there are just a few bigger-money outliers within the school recreation, a take a look at varied college stadium naming right deals exhibits that this can be a strong market-rate association for Cal.
There are different sweeteners within the deal too. FTX’s chief working officer Sina Nader, whose tweet is seen above, used to play defensive finish for Cal. Per the Merc, “FTX will present assist to Cal’s Cameron Institute for Scholar-Athlete Improvement. It additionally will donate $200,000 to combat homelessness in Berkeley.” And there may be in all probability some extent of promoting worth to a sure type of pupil for a school to have the soccer stadium named after a type of cryptocurrency.
After years of learning it, I consider that cryptocurrency is an inherently right-wing, hyper-capitalistic know-how constructed primarily to amplify the wealth of its proponents by means of a mixture of tax avoidance, diminished regulatory oversight and artificially enforced shortage.
— Jackson Palmer (@ummjackson) July 14, 2021
However that very cultish high quality of the crypto neighborhood is simply a part of why it’s so problematic. It’s a highly irresponsible driver of climate change, and provided that ransomware crooks all the time demand it as a cost, one wonders if its discreet major function is simply to allow crime. 1,000,000 folks have tried to elucidate cryptocurrency to me (you’ll be able to guess their gender). However the one clarification that has ever made sense is Dogecoin founder Jackson Palmer’s epic thread seen above and beneath, the place says its “managed by a strong cartel of rich figures” who leverage “a community of shady enterprise connections, purchased influencers and pay-for-play media retailers to perpetuate a cult-like ‘get wealthy fast’ funnel designed to extract new cash from the financially determined and naive.”
Lose your financial savings account password? Your fault.
Fall sufferer to a rip-off? Your fault.
Billionaires manipulating markets? They’re geniuses.That is the kind of harmful “free for all” capitalism cryptocurrency was sadly architected to facilitate since its inception.
— Jackson Palmer (@ummjackson) July 14, 2021
The Bears open their season Sept. 4 in opposition to Nevada at, sigh, FTX Area at Memorial Stadium.
Associated: Peek Inside Potrero Hill’s Cryptocurrency Commune [SFist]
Picture: Kilfmuny through Wikimedia Commons
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