Formula 1 agrees $100 million sponsorship deal with Crypto.com

The sponsorship is reportedly a five-year partnership that will see Crypto.com unveil a new award for the Formula 1′s Sprint series.

Formula 1 and Crypto.com have agreed on a partnership that sees the cryptocurrency platform become the inaugural global partner of F1’s Sprint Series.

Sources cited by CNBC have claimed that the sponsorship will initially be a five-year deal worth over $100 million.

The Sprint series will be held at select events across the F1 calendar and will see drivers compete over 100 kilometres, with the results used to determine grid positions during the Sunday race.

The partnership allows Crypto.com to introduce an award for the Sprint series, starting with the Belgian Grand Prix set for August. The platform will also be F1’s NFT partner. For its part, it will benefit from a brand presence at the races, which will begin with the first event on 17 July at the 2021 British Grand Prix.

The market reaction to the news has not been too noticeable for Crypto.com Coin (CRO). The CRO price is up just over 1% on the day, but is up more than 27% over the past week, and is currently changing hands at around $0.1138.

F1 ‘interested in’ crypto

Crypto.com provides its services to over 10 million users across more than 90 countries. The platform’s services are also available via a mobile app accessible on iOS and Android devices. Formula 1 hopes to use their partnership to further explore this space.

Ben Pincus, the director of commercial partnerships at F1, says that the agreement with Crypto.com is the first time the Liberty Media Corporation owned company was offering fans an “opportunity to explore [the] exciting world,” of cryptocurrency. The F1 is very “interested” in this space and looks to use the cooperation with Crypto.com to increase its digital presence, Pincus added.

“We are pleased to welcome Crypto.com to the Formula 1 family, as we continue to attract progressive global brands anchored in performance and innovation,” Formula 1 President and CEO Stefano Domenicali said in a statement.

Crypto.com co-founder and CEO Kris Marszalek said that the platform is “proud to be the first cryptocurrency sponsor of Formula 1,” and that they look forward to furthering the collaboration for many more years.