Crypto Enters The Ring: Litecoin (LTC) To Sponsor UFC Match 10

Crypto Enters The Ring: Litecoin (LTC) To Sponsor UFC Match

Litecoin Logo To Be Featured At UFC 232

Crypto startups are often known for their eccentricity. Snoop Dogg, for instance, was a featured performer at Ripple’s party post-Consensus. And Bill Clinton, yes THE Bill Clinton, was the keynote speaker at Ripple’s Swell event, which quickly gained notoriety in the cryptosphere as a sight to behold.

Most recently, as revealed by Charlie Lee, the creator of Litecoin and a long-time crypto diehard, the LTC logo will make its way onto the stage of UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) 232: Jones Vs. Gustaffson 2.

In an announcement released in tandem with Lee’s tweet on the matter, John Eidson, the director of marketing & communications at the Litecoin Foundation, explained that the aforementioned asset will become the “Official Cryptocurrency Partner” of the upcoming sports event, which will take place this Saturday (December 29th) in Inglewood, California. The match, which will be the last UFC contest of 2018, will see Jones challenge Gustafsson in a Light Heavyweight match.

Commenting on the rationale behind this sponsorship, Eidson explained that the Litecoin Foundation has intentions to continue partnerships with “great companies and brands” moving into 2019, making it logical for the cryptocurrency to “step into UFC’s world-famous Octagon now.”

The Foundation member went to subsequently draw lines between UFC’s upbringing and that of Litecoin, touching that the grassroots origins are something that crypto can resonate with. From a purely utilitarian standpoint, this sponsorship (which details weren’t divulged) will allow the LTC logo to be broadcasted worldwide, hopefully sparking some form of interest in the popular altcoin.

Charlie Lee Seeks To Bolster Crypto Adoption

Interestingly, this sponsorship isn’t straight out of left field. As reported by Ethereum World News previously, Lee, a former Coinbase engineer, told Bloomberg that he intends to focus on adoption in 2019, making this move (while still in 2018) an evident jab at bolstering Litecoin’s global presence.

In the interview, which was done one fateful year after he liquidated his personal LTC stash, the prominent crypto-friendly entrepreneur noted that he has his sights on increasing LTC adoption by merchants, rather than specifically focusing on the code. Although he was hesitant to provide an exact update on adoption, the long-time crypto advocate noted that he has begun to advise HTC’s Exodus project, which supports LTC via the world’s first blockchain-centric device.

With the Foundation’s recent milestone of (finally) opening a bank account, a labored task for any crypto-centric startup, maybe Lee’s dreams of adoption will be achieved in 2019.

Community Divided Over LTC

Although this recent sponsorship, coupled with Lee’s drive for adoption, should be admired and commended, some fear that LTC is poised to bite the dust.

Erik Finman, the world’s first [overt] crypto millionaire, who made his fortune off an early-stage investment in Bitcoin (BTC), recently told MarketWatch that LTC has been “quite dead for a while,” likening the asset to the Sun when it’s about to go under the horizon.

Crypto skeptic Bitfinex’ed claimed that Litecoin was “doomed from the start,” joking that the project, a Bitcoin fork, is taking a “perfectly good BMW (Bitcoin)” and replacing its wheels with smaller ones. This is, of course, in reference to the project’s quicker block times.

https://twitter.com/Bitfinexed/status/1078061334292504576

Title Image Courtesy of Marco Verch Via Flickr