Lakers won't have to change arena name as Crypto.com shuts down part of business

Crypto.com will shut down a portion of its business, but that won't affect the name of the Los Angeles Lakers' arena. Crypto.com announced Friday it would close its "institutional exchange" in the United States, according to ESPN's Dave McMenamin.

The company's institutional exchange service will be shuttered within two weeks, per blockworks.co. Roughly 400 customers will be affected by the change. Crypto.com's larger service, its app, will remain active and will continue to serve customers. The app includes a much larger portion of Crypto.com's customer base.

Crypto.com purchased the naming rights to Crypto.com Arena, previously known as the Staples Center, from Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) in 2021. Crypto.com paid $700 million to have its name grace the Lakers' stadium for 20 years.

The Lakers are not the only team to play in the stadium. It also hosts the NBA's Los Angeles Clippers, NHL's Los Angeles Kings and WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks.

Will Crypto.com continue to hold naming rights in Los Angeles?

Whether Crypto.com will retain naming rights for 20 years remains a question after FTX, another cryptocurrency exchange company, filed for bankruptcy in November. FTX purchased the naming rights to the Miami Heat's arena in 2021.

The Heat cut ties with the company after it filed for bankruptcy and were eventually allowed to change the arena's name in January. A few weeks after that, the Heat worked out a new naming-rights deal with Kaseya, a software company.

FTX's bankruptcy resulted in cryptocurrency stock plummeting. While stock prices increased since then, they haven't come close to making a full recovery.