Look at the front wing of the 2026 Williams and you will find a crypto exchange’s name on it. Five years earlier, crypto in racing meant something much smaller and stranger: a single NASCAR driver’s paycheck.
Between those two moments sits a full race’s worth of drama. There were big signings, a sudden red flag, and a quieter recovery that has left crypto brands spread across the paddock. Here is how it played out, and what it means for fans who are curious about crypto themselves.
2021: the green flag
In June 2021, Landon Cassill became the first NASCAR driver paid entirely in crypto, through a deal with Voyager Digital. It made headlines well beyond the stock car world, because it turned an abstract idea into something fans could picture: a racer’s salary arriving in digital coins.
In a series where sponsorship keeps many smaller teams running, a new kind of money was always going to get attention. Crypto companies wanted fans, and racing had plenty of them.
The same year, crypto money started arriving at the top of the sport. Crypto.com signed a global partnership with Formula 1 in 2021 and went on to become title sponsor of the Miami Grand Prix. That relationship has lasted, with F1 extending it through 2030.
For teams, the attraction was obvious. Crypto companies had money to spend and wanted global attention, and racing delivers both. For the crypto brands, a logo on a car or a race title offered instant visibility in front of millions of viewers.
2022: red flag
Then the market turned. In July 2022, Voyager Digital, the company behind Cassill’s crypto paycheck, filed for bankruptcy.
Celsius filed the same month. Customer funds held in custody on both platforms were frozen.
In November 2022, FTX collapsed. The exchange had been a sponsor of the Mercedes F1 team, and Mercedes removed FTX branding from its cars during the Brazilian Grand Prix weekend that same month.
Teams can tape over a logo between sessions. People who had money sitting on a failed platform could not fix their problem so quickly.
The custody lesson from the pit lane
This is not a story about any one driver’s finances. It is about a simple rule that the 2022 failures made painfully clear: if a company holds your crypto, you carry that company’s risk.
Being paid in crypto is one decision. Where you keep it afterwards is another.
Crypto held by a custodial platform depends on that platform staying solvent. Crypto in a wallet you control, where only you hold the recovery phrase, carries a different risk, mainly losing your keys, but no company’s bankruptcy can freeze it.
The same thinking now shapes how some people buy and sell. Peer-to-peer marketplaces with smart-contract escrow, such as senpero.com, let users trade from their own wallets: the crypto is locked on the blockchain during a trade and released when the seller confirms the payment arrived. Large exchanges and payment apps remain the more familiar route for most people, and each model has its own trade-offs.
2023 to 2026: back on track
The collapses did not end crypto sponsorship in racing. They reshuffled the grid.
Kraken became Williams’ crypto partner in 2023 and renewed long-term in January 2026, moving onto the front wing of the 2026 car. The front wing is prime real estate on any F1 car, visible in head-on shots, on the grid and in the pit lane.
OKX partners with McLaren. Red Bull had a reported $150 million three-year deal with Bybit before moving to a partnership with Gate.io in 2025.
By 2025, crypto and fintech sponsorship in F1 reached about $273.6 million across 21 partners. That is serious money, and it means crypto logos will keep appearing on cars, team kit and trackside boards for years to come.
The lesson the paddock seems to have taken from 2022 is not to avoid crypto sponsors. It is to expect that some partners will come and go, and to be ready to change the livery when they do.
What curious fans should know
A crypto brand on your favorite car is advertising, not advice. If the sponsorships have made you curious, a few basics will keep you safer.
Know who holds your coins. On an exchange app the company does, while in a self-custody wallet you do. Your recovery phrase is the only key, so write it on paper and never share it with anyone.
Use escrow when buying from a person. Sending money to a stranger and hoping crypto comes back is how people get burned. Escrow locks the crypto until the payment is confirmed, so neither side has to go first on trust alone.
Be wary of scams that borrow racing hype. Treat giveaways that use driver or team names, “official” tokens promoted in comment sections, and livestreams that promise to double any crypto you send as red flags. Teams and drivers do not ask fans to send crypto to get more back.
Slow down. The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center recorded about $11.4 billion in crypto-related losses in 2025, with crypto investment scams alone accounting for $7.2 billion. Urgency is the scammer’s favorite tool.
Pit board: the short version
- Sponsors come and go. A logo on a car is not a safety rating.
- Know whether a company or you holds the keys to any crypto you own.
- Do not leave balances on any platform longer than you need to.
- Buy from individuals only through escrow, and never act on a payment screenshot.
- Ignore any “send crypto, get double back” offer, whoever’s name is on it.
- Remember taxes: in the US, the IRS treats crypto as property, so selling or swapping can trigger capital gains.
