Mercedes has suspended its partnership agreement with crypto exchange FTX after the company filed for bankruptcy following a series of spiralling financial issues.
Crypto companies have emerged as one of the main sponsors of F1 teams in the past few years, as the sector has grown in scope and the sport looks to new sources of funding.
“As a first step, we have suspended our partnership agreement with FTX,” a Mercedes spokesperson said ahead of the start of the Brazilian GP in Sao Paolo.
“This means the company will no longer appear on our race car and other branded assets from this weekend. We will continue to monitor closely the situation as it evolves.”
The team will not be running the sponsor logos on the car for the race at Interlagos.
FTX Collapses
Most of the major cryptocurrency exchanges, including Binance, OKX and Crypto.com with Alpine, McLaren and Aston Martin respectively, are involved in the sport in one way or another.
Red Bull earlier this year signed a deal worth $150 million with Bybit, while Aston Martin and Alfa Romeo have their own fan tokens.
FTX was until the past week the second largest exchange in the market after Binance, but it has subsequently collapsed in dramatic fashion after questions emerged about its solvency and potential misuse of customers’ funds.
The company, led by 30-year old Sam Bankman-Fried, was a prominent sponsor of Mercedes since signing a deal with the company in early 2021, with its logo highly visible on the cockpit of the car.
