The Wilkenvoss twins’ bitcoin exchange the Gemini Trust Company LLC has signed a new partnership and sponsorship deal with professional eSports organization Echo Fox.

Under the deal, Gemini will work with Echo Fox to integrate bitcoin payments into the eSports industry, and in return, Gemini will sponsor Echo Fox eSports teams.

“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 sent to SiliconANGLE.

He went on to add that the exchange was “especially well positioned to create a safe ecosystem for frictionless money transfer within eSport.”

“With the rapid increase in the number of popular international events and athletes coming from every corner of the world, the borderless nature of bitcoin makes it a promising candidate to become the de facto standard for payments across all aspects of eSports,” Echo Fox Founder and Chief Executive Officer Rick Fox said separately.

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

Founded in 2015, Echo Fox fields teams in League of Legends, Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive in third party tournaments such as North American League of Legends Championship Series and Eleague; Echo Fox in a way could be described as being more similar to a professional sports team that fields teams in various divisions, or in this case games.

On a roll

The news that Gemini is entering the sponsorship space comes at a time where the company appears to be on a roll, including expansion into the United Kingdom in June.

At that time the company was said to be rapidly approaching $100 million a month in trade with Tyler Winklevoss saying at the time that “each month has increased growth better than the next…We are really young and it’s a really new space and it’s just the beginning but we are really encouraged with the growth and the way things have been going.”

From a pure marketing perspective, any sponsorship like this is about building brand awareness and there are some natural crossovers in terms of eSports and bitcoin and as long as Gemini did a good price on the partnership it’s a win/ win for all involved.

Image credit: Echo Fox.