Winklevoss Twins’ Gemini Exchange Partners With eSports Franchise Echo Fox

Gemini Trust Co., the US-based digital currency exchange founded by entrepreneurs Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, has announced a new sponsorship deal with leading eSports franchise Echo Fox.

Gemini said that the new sponsorship aims at integrating the global market of cryptocurrencies into eSports, an industry that has been booming across the globe generating an estimated US$748 million in revenues worldwide, a figure expected to reach US$1.9 billion by 2018, according to intelligence firm SuperData Research.

The team sponsorship marks the first ever for Gemini, and according to Tyler Winklevoss, co-founder and CEO of Gemini, there is still a massive amount of untapped opportunities within the eSports industry.

“Due to a general familiarity with cryptocurrencies, the gaming community is a natural place to cultivate understanding and trust as we work to introduce the benefits of digital assets to a broader, more mainstream market,” Tyler Winklevoss said in a statement.

He said that his exchange was “especially well positioned to create a safe ecosystem for frictionless money transfer within eSport.”

Hinting on a possible integration of digital currency into Echo Fox, owner Rick Fox said:

“With the rapid increase in the number of popular international events and athletes coming from every corner of world, the borderless nature of bitcoin makes it a promising candidate to become the de facto standard for payments across all aspects of eSports.

“There is a deep-seated connection between video game culture and digital currency and the futures of both are innately linked.”

The deal with Echo Fox comes shortly after Gemini has triggered its global expansion plans.

Gemini started operating in the US since October 2015, after being licensed by the New York State Department of Financial Services. It is the only US government approved exchange that trades in ether.

Based in New York City, Gemini launched to the Canadian market on June 06, followed by the UK on June 21. The company said it intends to become a global digital asset exchange.

Other bitcoin companies have attempted merging gaming and cryptocurrencies in the past. In April 2015, bitcoin wallet and vault service Xapo partnered with CEVO, a global eSports company, and bitcoin-based gaming service Leet, to allow CEVO users to earn bitcoins by playing and challenging friends on popular games such as League of Legends, TF2, Counterstrike, among others.