Kengo “Ken” Suzuki, a professional player of crossover action fighting game Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, or SSBU, has signed a contract to receive his salary in cryptocurrency XRP with SBI e-Sports, the gaming arm of Japanese financial giant SBI Holdings.
［御報告］
本日よりSBI e-sportsのスマブラ部門に所属させて頂くことになりました。年俸は株式会社SBIVCトレード様とのスポンサー契約に基づき暗号資産「XRP」で受領します。
至らぬ点もあると思いますがプロプレイヤーとして精一杯努めていきたいと思いますので応援の方、よろしくお願い致します。 pic.twitter.com/M7xdBgTwdF— SBI | KEN (@KENisbg) October 15, 2020
From today, I will belong to the SSBU division of SBI e-Sports. The annual salary will be received as cryptocurrency “XRP” based on the sponsorship contract with SBI VC Trade Co., Ltd. I think there are some points that can not be reached, but I would like to do my best as a professional player, thank you for your good understanding and cooperation.
According to an announcement posted by SBI Group today, Ken will now be part of SBI e-Sports’ newly established SSBU division. The player will receive his annual salary in XRP instead of the Japanese yen, “based on wishes of the player and the sponsorship” with SBI VC Trade, SBI’s crypto-focused venture capital arm.
KEN is an Ultimate and Wii U Sonic player from Tokyo, Japan. He was ranked as the 9th best Wii U player of all time on the PGR100 and 2nd on the Japan Power Rankings. In Ultimate he is currently ranked 16th in the PGRU Fall 2019 Power Rankings.
SBI e-Sports is a new professional esports subsidiary of SBI launched in June 2020. In late September, the company officially announced that SBI e-Sports will pay its players in XRP as part of a sponsorship deal with SBI VC Trade.
Read more:
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