The racing unit of premium automaker Ferrari, Scuderia Ferrari, has joined the rising number of Formula One racing teams who have ended their relationships with their Crypto sponsors. Before the 2023 season, Ferrari ended their multi-year collaboration agreements with Velas Blockchain and the world’s largest chip manufacturer, Snapdragon, incurring a cumulative $55 million loss for the Italian team.
The partnership between Ferrari and Velas
The Italian team revealed their collaboration with Velas near the conclusion of 2021 when F1 teams appeared eager to negotiate partnerships with Crypto firms. However, the environment has altered substantially over the past year, with the value of cryptos and blockchains declining significantly. The most glaring illustration of the instability and unpredictability of Crypto sponsors in Formula One is the bankruptcy of FTX, Mercedes’ official Crypto partner, at the end of 2022.
Ferrari and Velas announced a $30 million per year agreement in 2021 with the goal of boosting fan interaction through non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and other cooperative projects. RacingNews365 asserts that the team violated the provisions permitting Velas to produce NFT imagery.
Other related-brands
After signing a sponsorship agreement with the FTX Crypto exchange in September 2021, Mercedes has also gotten on board the Crypto bandwagon. The FTX exchange went under last year, and as a result, the partnership immediately broke up and filed for bankruptcy.
Red Bull Racing and Tezos Foundation’s collaboration came to an end in December 2022 as the global crypto market continued to decline, with the latter organization citing changes in its “strategical priorities” as the reason for not renewing their agreement.
