Red Bull F1 team lands record cryptocurrency sponsorship deal

Red Bull Racing announced a wide-ranging partnership with leading cryptocurrency exchange platform Bybit on Wednesday, in a multi-year agreement, that represents the single largest per-annum cryptocurrency venture yet seen in international sport.

RBR recently announced a lucrative title deal with tech giant Oracle as it seeks to plug the hole left by the loss of works Honda backing and also finance the new Red Bull Powertrains division, and the Bybit contract as principal team partner makes another significant contribution, many thinks the deal worth about $150M.

The plan is for Bybit to help the team to grow fan engagement in its role as fan token issuance partner. Founded in 2018, Bybit is a derivative exchange, in essence dealing with contracts that give traders the right to buy or sell crypto assets at a certain price at a future date.

In November the company became the main sponsor of Argentina’s national soccer team.

Christian Horner on the deal:

“I’m delighted to welcome Bybit to the Team. It’s fitting too that, as we enter a new generation of competition of F1 in 2022, with an advanced and potentially game-changing new philosophy of cars taking to the track, that Bybit also exist at the cutting edge of technology.

They share the Team’s passion to exist at the forefront of technological innovation, to set the competitive pace and to disrupt the status quo. Allied to that is Bybit’s commitment to enlivening the fan experience in F1 through digital innovation. This is also a key mission for the Team and Bybit’s assistance will help us build a deeper more immersive and unique connection with the team for fans around the world.”

Ben Zhou, co-founder and CEO of Bybit said: 

“Oracle Red Bull Racing’s unique energy and creativity inspires us. The team has changed the game in the same way that digital assets have changed the global financial system.

As a young platform we connect with Oracle Red Bull Racing at the core of our values — age doesn’t matter, hierarchy is of no significance, and legacy is not what is passed to you but what you make.

Bull or bear, everyone has the opportunity to take financial freedom in their own hands at the dawn of the digital economy. Bybit has found our kindred spirit and the perfect harmony of speed, safety and reliability is everything our users are looking for on our platform.

A moment on the track is made possible by tireless work to perfect the chassis, the engine, the craftsmanship, and by the racing drivers’ relentless pursuit for precision and focus in an adrenaline-fueled game.”

Bybit is the latest in a growing line of companies from the cryptocurrency field to use F1 as a marketing platform, with several teams on the grid having already forged relationships.

The highest profile thus far is Crypto.com, which is a partner of F1 and title sponsor of the inaugural Miami GP in May, as well as a key backer of the Aston Martin team.

Alpine recently announced the launch of a fan token via Binance, while Red Bull’s sister team AlphaTauri has extended the arrangement with Fantom that it first announced in May 2021.

Mercedes signed a deal with FTX last September, while for 2022 McLaren has a new partnership with Turkish firm Bitci.com, and Ferrari has aligned with Swiss-based Velas Network.

Red Bull was one of the first F1 teams to explore the cryptocurrency field, having previously agreed a deal with FuturoCoin in 2019.