The American cryptocurrency exchange Kraken has announced a partnership with the Williams Racing team. It is the first major cryptocurrency company to have a F1 deal this year.
The deal was announced on the eve of the Australian Grand Prix, which is due to take place in early April this year. The Kraken logo will be featured on Willams race cars, driver suits, team caps and all team branded merchandise.
“We want to offer cutting-edge crypto and Web3 technology to our fans, and enable Kraken to reach new customers and business through our network and events,” said Williams Racing Chief Commercial Officer James Bower.
At the end of 2022, several teams at once abandoned partnerships with crypto companies amid the crisis. In mid-November, the Mercedes F1 team terminated its partnership with the FTX exchange following its collapse. In addition, Ferrari abruptly terminated a long-term agreement with Swiss blockchain company Velas in January.
In September, Singapore suspended advertising of cryptocurrencies on the highway, but allowed them to remain on cars. Other countries, including France, also introduced restrictions on advertising cryptocurrencies on the track last year.
However, some sponsorship deals remained. The Aston Martin team has retained its crypto sponsors Crypto.com and Socios. Binance remains a partner of the Alpine team, while OKX and Tezos continue to work with McLaren Racing. The Red Bull racing team has retained its crypto sponsor Bybit and OpenSea is still working with Haas.
