Red Bull Racing sets record cryptocurrency sponsorship deal

Red Bull Racing, one of the leading F1 teams, has sealed a $150 million, three-year deal with cryptocurrency platform, Bybit.

Red Bull Racing has faced money challenges recently, with Honda pulling its support for the team. However, the combination of Bybit and an earlier announcement of a $695 million sponsorship with Oracle should see the team’s immediate future secured.

(Incidentally – the Oracle deal comes with naming rights, so the team will now be Oracle Red Bull Racing).

For its part, Singapore-based Bybit has been splashing cash around on multiple sponsorships. The company became the main sponsor of the Argentinian national football team last year.

It is one of many crypto companies investing heavily in F1. Crypto.com is a partner for the competition itself, and title sponsor of the Miami GP event. Mercedes has signed a deal with FTX, Ferrari has a sponsorship with Velas Network, and McLaren is a partner to Turkish firm, Bitci.com. Red Bull itself has had crypto partnerships in the past, with FuturoCoin in 2019.

The Bybit partnership is, however, the largest crypto sponsorship to date.

More broadly, as the crypto space continues to heat up, and most of the organisations involved find themselves in need of developing brand presence quickly, sponsorships from the space are going to be a lucrative new opportunity for teams, codes, and sporting events. This is particularly true for those sports that skew towards younger, higher income, and more male-dominated sports.