Esports organisation Team SoloMid, better known as TSM (or TSM FTX), is “consulting legal counsel” following the bankruptcy of a major sponsor – cryptocurrency exchange platform FTX.
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As reported by the New York Times, FTX was paying TSM £17.6million ($21million) per year for 10 years, as part of the sponsorship deal that led to the organisation adopting the “TSM FTX” branding. Speaking at the time of the deal’s announcement, former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried compared the deal to the likes seen in more conventional sports, saying: “Taking a huge industry and then reimagining it in a digital age: that’s sort of what esports are to sports, and it’s sort of what crypto is to investing and to finance.”
FTX’s fortunes have changed somewhat dramatically since then, however. The company declared bankruptcy last week, after it was hit by £5billion ($6billion) of withdrawal requests following rumours about company’s poor financial health.
FTX’s collapse has invited further scrutiny of the company, with the US Securities and Exchange Commission reportedly looking into its activities. Bankman-Fried has resigned as CEO, telling Reuters that he is now in the Bahamas (where FTX is based), though a report claims that he and his fellow former FTX executives are looking for ways to as they face supervision from the local authorities in the Bahamas.
