The Sacramento Kings have struck a multiyear partnership with Ankr, a digital asset software platform developer for the blockchain economy.
As part of the partnership, the Kings' home court will now carry Ankr’s branding on each baseline, visible at every game at Golden 1 Center.
“Sports can be a powerful platform to educate and embrace innovation,” said Sacramento Kings majority owner and Chairman Vivek Ranadivé, in a news release from the Kings.
The partnership is another initiative of the Kings to promote the blockchain and cryptocurrency economy. Ankr and the Kings will host an annual event focused on the crypto industry.
Ankr, a 2018 startup based in San Francisco, has raised $27.3 million in investment capital through four rounds of funding, according to venture capital tracking website Crunchbase.
Through the partnership, the Kings and Ankr will produce educational content, host events and create projects that showcase ways to support the growth of the blockchain industry.
Ankr provides infrastructure and tooling that streamline development of blockchain-based applications.
Developers use Ankr for rapid development of APIs and RPCs to allow developers to build blockchain networks, said Ankr spokeswoman Karla Vilhelem, in an email to the Business Journal. An API is an application programming interface that allows different applications to communicate. An RPC, or remote procedure call, is an action where a program in one network can access a program in another network.
“We have visited the Kings data center for crypto mining inside their facilities many times and I admire the openness of the owner, Vivek, to embrace new technologies,” said Ankr founder Chandler Song, in a news release. “We are aligned in this mission to promote applications of Web 3 technologies. Ankr’s partnership with the Sacramento Kings, one of the most innovative companies in sports and in the NBA, will open a lot of new doors for both sports fans and the crypto community.”
He added that Ankr chose to partner with the Kings because Ranadivé is tech-oriented and interested in blockchain. Ranadivé was the founder of TIBCO Software.
“Ankr has established a brand and a reputation that leads the way in blockchain technology, and we feel we can leverage their expertise to create engaging content for our fans and build upon what we’ve already established on the technology front,” said John Rinehart, Sacramento Kings president of business operations, via email.
The Kings have accepted Bitcoin for purchases since 2014. The basketball team also offers its players and staff the option to be paid in Bitcoin.
In 2019, the Kings announced the National Basketball Association’s first blockchain reward program in a collaboration with Blockparty. The Kings have also offered several non-fungible token, or NFT, offerings for fans. NFTs are unique digital assets, such as images, with blockchain technology to establish proof of ownership.
