Gemini signs 5-year bitcoin sponsorship deal with Peter McCormack's football club

Crypto exchange Gemini has signed a five-year sponsorship agreement with Real Bedford football club, co-owned by Peter McCormack, host of the popular podcast What Bitcoin Did.

The deal will be paid upfront in bitcoin and aims to support the club's success and enhance opportunities for local children, Gemini said Monday. The sponsorship is in addition to the $4.5 million investment made in the club this April by Winklevoss Capital — the investment firm owned by Gemini founders and twins Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss — a Gemini spokesperson told The Block.

The April investment made the Winklevoss twins co-owners of the club alongside McCormack, who purchased it in 2022. When asked why Gemini signed a new deal, the spokesperson said it continues Gemini's sponsorship of the club since 2022, ensures Gemini's logo will appear on the team's jerseys and across the pitch, and is separate from the April investment.

The spokesperson declined to comment on the value of the new and previous sponsorship deals with the club but said that Real Bedford is Gemini's only sports sponsorship.

The bitcoin deal

The Real Bedford football club holds its treasury in bitcoin, and the five-year deal will be paid directly into this bitcoin treasury, Gemini said. The treasury is key in safeguarding the club's savings and investments against high inflation, the crypto exchange said, adding that it will help the club build its new training center and launch a youth football academy aimed at underprivileged children in Bedford, a town in Bedfordshire, England, where McCormack resides.

Real Bedford has fully integrated bitcoin into its operations, enabling players to receive payments in the cryptocurrency and fans to purchase tickets and merchandise using it, Gemini said.

"By integrating bitcoin into our treasury, we have achieved a +62% return, thereby strengthening the club's financial position and protecting our cost base against the recent surge in inflation," McCormack said in a statement.

Gemini declined to specify the size of the club's bitcoin treasury, while a spokesperson for McCormack did not respond to The Block's request for comment.