Ferrari’s Formula 1 team, Scuderia Ferrari, has partnered with Swiss based blockchain company Velas Network AG for the upcoming season and beyond. Sponsorship is a significant part of the deal that includes launching exclusive digital products and experiences for Scuderia’s fans.
No specific announcements have been made about which exact products the partnership will provide, but non-fungible tokens (NFTs) will likely be one of them. Velas has a layer one blockchain that competes with Ethereum and Solana and, as with other blockchains, has an NFT marketplace.
Besides being a Ferrari premium partner, Velas will also be the Title Sponsor of Ferrari Esports Series.
NFTs and blockchain-based content is not new to Formula 1. Both McLaren Racing and Red Bull’s F1 team have sponsorships and NFT agreements with blockchain Tezos. McLaren also has a fan token deal with Bitci.com, and Formula 1 itself has a blockchain game F1 Delta Time, which launched before the hype around NFTs kicked in.
For Ferrari, the partnership with Velas means it can potentially launch all of those products and more under a single deal. Despite the rise in popularity of NFTs, tokens, and other blockchain digital products in 2021, they are still foreign to most people, including most Scuderia fans.
Meanwhile, Velas operates a blockchain that is more energy-efficient than the current version of Ethereum because it uses Proof of Stake.
Besides Velas, other recent sports sponsorships have mostly been with cryptocurrency exchange platforms, including FTX US and NBA Warriors, Bybit’s sponsorship of Argentina national football teams, and LA’s Staple Center was renamed as theCrypto.com arena.
