Kraken, an American cryptocurrency exchange, has made headlines by announcing its partnership with the Williams Racing team, becoming the first major cryptocurrency company to enter into an F1 deal this year.
The announcement comes ahead of the Australian Grand Prix scheduled to take place in early April. The partnership will see the Kraken logo prominently displayed on the Williams race cars, driver suits, team caps, and other team-branded merchandise.
The move is part of Kraken’s strategy to provide cutting-edge crypto and Web3 technology to its fans and expand its reach through the team’s network and events, as per Williams Racing Chief Commercial Officer James Bower.
This partnership marks a significant development in the world of cryptocurrency and motorsport, particularly after the crisis that saw several teams abandoning partnerships with crypto companies at the end of 2022.
The Mercedes F1 team terminated its partnership with the FTX exchange following its collapse, and Ferrari abruptly terminated a long-term agreement with Swiss blockchain company Velas.
Despite the challenges, some sponsorship deals remained intact, with the Aston Martin team retaining its crypto sponsors Crypto.com and Socios, Binance remaining a partner of the Alpine team, and OKX and Tezos continuing to work with McLaren Racing.
Additionally, the Red Bull racing team has retained its crypto sponsor Bybit, while OpenSea is still working with Haas.
It is worth noting that some countries, including France, have introduced restrictions on advertising cryptocurrencies on the track, but Singapore allowed them to remain on cars despite suspending their advertising on the highway.
The Kraken-Williams partnership represents an exciting development in the intersection between cryptocurrency and sports, and it remains to be seen how it will influence the future of this growing trend.