FTX once intended to sign a Taylor Swift sponsorship contract with a value of up to 100 million USD

The deal between Taylor Swift and FTX ended just a few months before FTX collapsed.

According to the Financial Times, “country music princess” Taylor Swift once negotiated with the cryptocurrency exchange FTX about a promotion contract worth up to 100 million USD in early 2022.

The Financial Times revealed the content of the deal included a Taylor Swift tour sponsored by FTX, plus ticket sales conducted in the form of NFT. FTX also wants Taylor Swift’s social media accounts to post articles promoting the exchange.

Sam Bankman-Fried is the one who directed the collaboration with Taylor Swift, because he once claimed on social networks that he was a “hard fan” of her. However, other FTX executives opposed the deal, saying it was too costly.

The members of the leadership tried to cancel the negotiations. They argue that the cost of collaborating with Swift is too expensive and question whether previous celebrity deals have yielded commensurate value.

Bankman-Fried was pressured to walk away from the deal by senior executives including FTX US president Brett Harrison, who has more than a decade of experience at financial firms such as Jane Street and Citadel before joining FTX, and US general counsel Ryne Miller,… Many employees were also skeptical about the value of the contract. One former employee said some people at the company “felt like [Swift] will not add value to our user base.”

In the past, the FTX exchange has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on promotion deals and signed sponsorship contracts with many major sports organizations including the Miami Heats basketball team, the American Baseball League (MLB), and the esports team. TSM, North American League of Legends (LCS), Cal Athletics College and American football legend Tom Brady, basketball star Stephen Curry and tennis star Naomi Osaka. The floor also spent heavily to buy ads at the Super Bowl rugby super cup event in early 2022.

However, after FTX went bankrupt, the Miami Heats, TSM and Cal Athletics all announced the termination of their agreements with FTX.