MLB star Shohei Ohtani takes a stake in crypto exchange FTX and joins Steph Curry and Tom Brady as the latest brand ambassador

• Major League Baseball superstar Shohei Ohtani is taking a stake in cryptocurrency exchange FTX.
• He is also joining the firm's A-list roster of sports ambassadors, which includes Tom Brady and Stephen Curry.
• The deal is the latest in a series of high-profile sponsorship agreements for FTX, which was founded in 2019.

Major League Baseball superstar Shohei Ohtani is taking a stake in FTX, joining the cryptocurrency exchange's A-list roster of ambassadors.

Ohtani will receive all of his compensation in equity and cryptocurrencies, FTX said on Tuesday. As part of the long-term partnership, FTX also committed to making an annual contribution on behalf of Ohtani to various charities.

The deal is the latest in a series of high-profile sponsorship agreements for the SoftBank-backed firm, which was founded by 29-year-old crypto billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried in 2019.

Ohtani, who in 2021 became the first player in the history of MLB to be an All-Star as both a pitcher and a hitter, joins NFL superstar Tom Brady and NBA legend Stephen Curry as brand ambassadors.

The world's third-largest crypto exchange in volume behind Binance and OKEx, FTX has aggressively pursued sports deals.

The firm in October revealed it purchased an ad for the Super Bowl in February 2022. FTX in June announced a partnership with MLB to become the first cryptocurrency exchange sponsor in professional sports. And earlier this year, Blockfolio, the crypto app that FTX acquired in 2020, won naming rights to the NBA's Miami Heat arena until 2040 in a $135-million deal.

"Sports fans are 2x more likely to know about crypto than nonsports fans," Bankman-Fried said in July. "Avid sports fans are nearly 3x as likely."