Manchester City are facing pressure over their shirt sponsor OKX after it emerged the crypto exchange was fined 504 million dollars in the United States last year for flouting money-laundering regulations.
OKX is run by billionaire Mingxing Xu, known as Star Xu, and signed a 55 million pound deal with City in 2023. Industry sources say it beggars belief that the club has not cut ties with the exchange given the scale of the American penalty, which was imposed for serious failures in anti-money-laundering controls.
The sponsorship is under scrutiny at the worst possible time for the club. City has just been found guilty by an independent commission of serious breaches of Premier League financial rules, including the use of sham sponsorship deals to inflate revenues by more than 900 million pounds. The juxtaposition of those findings with a sponsor fined for money-laundering failings has intensified criticism of the club's commercial judgment.
Crypto exchanges have poured money into football sponsorship in recent years, attracted by the sport's global audience and its young, digitally engaged fan base. But the sector's regulatory troubles have repeatedly embarrassed the clubs involved, and campaigners have long warned that football is failing to vet its commercial partners properly, chasing revenue without asking hard questions.
City has not indicated any intention to end the OKX deal, which remains one of the most valuable sleeve sponsorships in the game. The club is already fighting for its reputation on multiple fronts, with an appeal lodged against the commission's guilty verdict and the Football Association warning of significant implications for the integrity of the game.
For critics, the OKX relationship has become a symbol of a wider problem: a club that pursued commercial growth at any cost, with too little regard for where the money came from. Whether the mounting pressure forces a rethink remains to be seen, but the questions over the sponsorship are unlikely to go away.
The case has revived the debate about football's relationship with the cryptocurrency industry, which has been marked by a series of high-profile collapses and scandals. Fan groups have questioned whether clubs do sufficient due diligence on sponsors, and whether supporters' loyalty is being used to lend legitimacy to risky financial products. The Premier League has so far left sponsorship decisions to individual clubs, but the growing controversy may force a rethink. For City, already under the microscope over the commission's findings, the OKX deal is another front in a battle for credibility.