Binance has terminated its five-year partnership with the Argentine soccer association, just after a year, citing a breach of contract.
“We regularly evaluate the results of our partnerships around the world and unfortunately, despite being offered time and opportunities, the AFA has not fully complied with its contractual obligations, which goes against our business values and our partnership principles,” Binance said in a Spanish-language statement posted on Twitter on Monday.
In January 2022, Binance became the main sponsor of Argentina’s powerhouse national soccer team and the naming sponsor of its national soccer league in a five-year deal.
The deal was not without controversy, as AFA unilaterally terminated a contract with the fan token site Socios to sign an agreement with Binance. Afterwards, Socios sued AFA, although the company remained as the exclusive provider of AFA’s official fan token, $ARG, until 2026.
The bear market and regulatory crackdown have stung all corners of the crypto markets and Binance, one of the world’s largest exchanges, hasn’t been spared.
Most recently, Wall Street Journal said that Binance has stopped offering certain benefits to its employees due to declining profits for the company. The report came after Binance cut more than 1,000 workers in recent weeks amid growing regulatory and legal challenges around the world, with the reported potential for more than a third of the company’s previous 8,000 employees to be cut eventually.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sued Binance, Binance.US and founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao in June on allegations that the companies operated as an unregistered securities exchange, broker and clearinghouse all in one to allow U.S. customers to buy and trade certain cryptocurrencies that the regulator claimed were unregistered securities.