The US National Basketball Association (NBA) has signed a multi-year deal with American crypto exchange Coinbase. The deal comes as the NBA is gearing up to host its 75th anniversary season. The exchange will also mark its presence in the WNBA Commissioner’s Cup, NBA G League Ignite as well as the USA Basketball men’s and women’s national team exhibition tours.

When the news was announced on Twitter, cryptocurrency enthusiasts shared a lot of excitement online. The NBA garnered much applause for being pro-crypto.

????????the woke NBA https://t.co/xDdTdO1xce

— Jmmuthsr (@jmmuth1961) October 21, 2021

My favorite sports league @NBA teams up with @coinbase an amazing crypto platform and exchange! https://t.co/8yuChlIkYq

— Matthew Leybold (@MatthewLeybold) October 20, 2021

I started using @coinbase just two days ago, and I’m very excited to see this partnership expose new audiences to the cryptocurrency world! #SportsBiz #Crypto https://t.co/yAOdz8XZ7a

— Gina (@gmnavarra) October 20, 2021

As of now, however, nothing has been revealed about whether NBA enthusiasts would be allowed to buy match tickets and merchandise using cryptocurrencies.

This is not the first time that American basketball players and teams have extended support to the budding crypto space.

Billionaire investor Mark Cuban’s Dallas Mavericks has been accepting payments using digital assets via BitPay since 2019. I

The Sacramento Kings also have previously ventured into Ethereum mining.

Earlier this year, the California-based Kings also created history by offering salaries to players in Bitcoins, which is the world’s most valued cryptocurrency.

The crypto-space has been witnessing rapid expansion in several parts of the world, including in Asia, Africa, and the US.

Earlier this week, the market capitalisation of all the cryptocurrencies put together has crossed a milestone of $2.5 trillion (roughly Rs. 1,87,42,625 crore) according to cryptocurrency tracker CoinMarketCap.

Indian trade association NASSCOM has also predicted a multi-fold growth for the cryptocurrency market in the next five years i.e by 2026.

Interested in cryptocurrency? We discuss all things crypto with WazirX CEO Nischal Shetty and WeekendInvesting founder Alok Jain on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.

Cryptocurrency is an unregulated digital currency, not a legal tender and subject to market risks. The information provided in the article is not intended to be and does not constitute financial advice, trading advice or any other advice or recommendation of any sort offered or endorsed by NDTV. NDTV shall not be responsible for any loss arising from any investment based on any perceived recommendation, forecast or any other information contained in the article.