- Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One team has signed a sponsorship deal with Hong Kong based cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com
- It is the first F1 sponsorship deal with a company in the cryptocurrency space.
- Aston Martin is expressing an interest in leveraging blockchain based assets such as NFT’s and payment solutions.
The most interesting and revolutionary partnership deal reported today doesn’t even involve a sports betting operator. Hong Kong based cryptocurrency exchange/services company Crypto.com has announced a sponsorship deal with the Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team. It’s a multi-year deal between the F1 racing team and the crypto company–making it even more of a big deal is the fact that Aston Martin is returning to F1 racing for the first time in over 60 years in 2021. The official launch of the 2021 Aston Martin is tomorrow meaning that Crypto.com got in at a perfect time.
Crypto.com is one of the fastest growing cryptocurrency service companies. They were founded in 2016 and now serve over 10 million customers (myself included) with a suite of services including the Crypto.com Visa debit card and the Crypto.com DeFi wallet. They’re based in Hong Kong with over 900 employees. Although there have been cryptocurrency companies that have entered into sports sponsorship in the past this is certainly the most high profile one to date. There’s a number of different ways to slice it but regardless of the metric you’re talking hundreds of millions of Formula One racing fans worldwide.
Kris Marszalek, Co-founder and CEO of Crypto.com, had this to say about the Aston Martin sponsorship deal:
“We are extremely excited to be partnering with Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One™ Team. There is strong alignment between our brands and the aspirations of our customers. In only four years we have built the world’s most secure and fastest-growing cryptocurrency platform serving more than 10 million customers worldwide. We’re proud to be partnering with Aston Martin as they return to Grand Prix racing, especially as the first cryptocurrency platform to be sponsoring an F1 team.”
Lawrence Stroll, Chairman, Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team, is happy to be in cahoots with a dynamic brand on the cutting edge of financial technology:
“As we prepare for the start of the new season, I am delighted to welcome Crypto.com as a global partner of Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One™ Team. I am very impressed by the vision of the Crypto.com management and the tremendous speed at which their platform is growing. I am sure this partnership will bring a fresh perspective to both our businesses and introduce both brands to new audiences. We are proud of our heritage, but as this deal shows we are also a very modern team.”
Jefferson Slack, Managing Director – Commercial & Marketing for Aston Martin’s F1 team added these comments:
“This partnership with Crypto.com really puts Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One™ Team at the forefront of the boom in cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. It is an industry that is fast becoming mainstream and it is hugely exciting that we – as an innovative Formula One team – are building a strong relationship with a company that is leading the way in this important sector.”
This is another tangible sign of cryptocurrency’s penetration into the mainstream as well as a validation of the legitimacy of the technology. In a few years the crypto industry has gone from sponsoring fourth rate college football bowl games to one of the most visible sports in the world. You can pretty much count on the issuing of Aston Martin F1 NFTs but it’ll be interesting to see if anything else comes out of this collaboration.
