UK-based esports organisation Guild Esports has partnered with Bitstamp, one of the world’s longest-running crypto exchanges.
Bitstamp has become Guild’s official cryptocurrency exchange partner with the signing of a three-year global sponsorship deal worth £4.5m.
It’s the largest sponsorship deal secured by Guild Esports in its history and will generate annual revenues of £1.5m over the three-year period. It commences on January 29th 2022.
As part of the agreement, Bitstamp will be given marketing rights and prominent exposure across Guild Esports’ team jersey and will also appear across social and digital content featuring the company’s pro players and content creators.
Bitstamp’s logo and brand will also be integrated at Guild’s new flagship London headquarters which are due to open in early 2022.
In addition, Guild and Bitstamp will collaborate in the development of numerous projects and activations aimed at enhancing Guild’s fanbase and Bitstamp customers’ experience and creating highquality content the esports community has come to expect from Guild.
Bitstamp has been supporting investors, traders and financial institutions since 2011 and has more than 4m customers worldwide.
In 2014, the exchange became the first to conduct a financial audit of a crypto firm. Bitstamp was also the first nationally licensed Bitcoin exchange when its EU base, Luxembourg, granted it a payment institution licence in 2016, warranting the exchange’s regulation across Europe.
“We are thrilled to welcome Bitstamp to Guild as our official cryptocurrency exchange partner. It will also enable us to deliver creative, high-quality content and meaningful experience to our audience in a way that is authentic to both Guild and Bitstamps’ identities.”
Kal Hourd, Guild Esports
Kal Hourd, chief executive of Guild Esports, said: “We are thrilled to welcome Bitstamp to Guild as our official cryptocurrency exchange partner. It will also enable us to deliver creative, high-quality content and meaningful experience to our audience in a way that is authentic to both Guild and Bitstamps’ identities.
“Our pipeline of new business opportunities remains strong as Guild’s growing network audience of fans and teams’ performance continues to attract strong interest from a wide cross-section of brand advertisers. As a result we look forward to bringing more sponsors on board in due course.”
Julian Sawyer, CEO of Bitstamp, added: “Partnering with a creative and fast-growing organisation with a digital and worldwide audience like Guild, is a natural fit for us. Working together to reach esports and gaming fans is a significant moment for us and our growth plans as we continue to bring our trusted service to more mainstream audiences that recognise the benefits of investing in crypto.”
The news comes after Guild qualified for the Valorant VCT EMEA 2022 Stage 1 Challengers. They join the likes of Team Liquid and Fnatic (teams that also feature UK talent) in the tournament which kicks off in February.
Guild beat Vitality 3-0 in the upper bracket final to emerge as the first seed from the closed qualifier. You can read more about Valorant’s 2022 esports plans here.
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- Endpoint CeX become first UK esports team to launch a blockchain fan token, with plans to open a new team HQ in 2022
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
