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Dave McMenamin, ESPN Staff Writer
The cryptocurrency company Crypto.com announced Friday it was closing part of its business, however that change will not affect the naming rights deal for Crypto.com Arena in downtown Los Angeles, sources told ESPN.
Crypto.com is shuttering its institutional exchange in the United States, which affects approximately 400 customers making large-scale crypto transactions on the platform. Crypto.com’s main business, a retail app with more than 80 million users worldwide, remains the same.
“We remain fully confident in the continued success of our market differentiating capabilities and offerings and will continue to offer all other regulated services in the markets in which we operate,” Crypto.com said in a statement Friday.
AEG, which owns and operates the arena that is home to the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers and LA Clippers, the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings and the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks, entered into a 20-year, $700 million naming rights agreement with the Singapore-based Crypto.com in November 2021.
It had been known as the Staples Center since its opening in October 1999.
AEG stands for Anschutz Entertainment Group. Its chairman, Philip Anschutz, sold his 27% stake in the Lakers to Los Angeles Dodgers co-owners Mark Walter and Todd Boehly in July 2021 for more than $1 billion.