Formula 1 team Oracle Red Bull Racing has signed what’s being called a record-breaking sponsorship deal with the Singaporean-headquartered crypto exchange Bybit.

The multi-year deal is “the single largest per-annum cryptocurrency venture yet seen in international sport,” the F1 team said in a midweek press release.

It’s reportedly split into US$50 million per annum over a three-year period, but still apparently makes it the largest crypto sports sponsorship on a yearly basis.

The sponsorship will also see Bybit become the “Principal Team Partner” for the racing team, as well as becoming its “Cryptocurrency Exchange Partner” and “Tech Incubator Partner”. Oh yeah… and it will also become the team’s “Fan Token Issuance Partner”.

That lands Bybit with the task of issuing “fan tokens” for the F1 team, helping it grow its digital assets, crypto-based community and drive fan engagement more generally.

 Any more partner titles? Nope, think that’s it… but that might also be a new record. One it won’t be claiming, however, is “Title Partner”, which stays with Oracle.

The “incubator” aspect, meanwhile, will see Bybit work on various projects from crypto literacy to promoting green technology, according to the press release.

 

Sports and crypto

Bybit’s collab with the Red Bull Racing team is just the latest in an ever-growing crop of major crypto/sports deals. Here are just some of them, in no particular order…

• The Red Bull Racing team has delved into crypto before. Back in May 2021, it announced a partnership with Tezos to produce original non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

• Just last week the crypto exchange Crypto.com nabbed the naming rights to the latest addition to the F1 calendar, the Miami Grand Prix.

• The Fantom Foundation announced an expanded sponsorship with the Italian F1 racing team and constructor Scuderia AlphaTauri in January.

• Last year Crypto.com paid a reported US$700 million for the naming rights to the Los Angeles Staples Center, home to the NBA’s Lakers and Clippers as well as the WNBA’s Sparks and NHL’s Kings.

• The global Binance crypto exchange recently announced its sponsorship of the African Cup of Nations soccer tournament.

• The Swyftx crypto exchange has this week announced a three-year sponsorship deal with the NRL.

• Last month the AFL and the AFL Women’s signed a five-year sponsorship with Crypto.com for an estimated $25 million.

• The Perth Heat baseball team announced late last year its moved to a financial model based on “the Bitcoin Standard”, which you can read more about here.

• And let’s not forget one of the world’s leading crypto exchanges, FTX, which is probably the leading blockchain-based entity when it comes to major sports partnerships.

Multi-billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried’s company has inked deals with the Miami Heat, Major League Baseball, the Golden State Warriors, and the Washington Wizards and Capitals, just to name a handful. It’s got many more sports stars in its ambassadorial pocket, too, including Tom Brady (NFL) and Steph Curry (NBA).  

Read MoreCryptocurrency

You might be interested in