Kraken, a San Francisco-based cryptocurrency exchange, has announced its first global partnership with Williams Racing, the British Formula 1 team. Under the deal, Kraken will become the team’s first official crypto and Web3 partner. The agreement will see Kraken’s branding appear on the driver’s suits, caps, and rear wing of Williams’ cars for the rest of this year’s F1 World Championship season, starting with the Australian Grand Prix this weekend. Kraken’s NFT marketplace users will also have the opportunity to feature their owned NFT artwork on the rear of Williams’ race cars during select Grand Prix events. The artwork will be sourced from leading third-party NFT projects listed on Kraken’s own marketplace, such as Bored Ape Yacht Club and World of Women.

The F1 arena has been a hub for crypto sponsorships, but some deals have failed, such as Ferrari’s termination of its deal with blockchain company Velas, and Tezos’ early termination of its deal with Red Bull Racing. Nonetheless, Kraken will join several other crypto brands that maintain active partnerships with F1 teams, including McLaren’s partnerships with Tezos and OKX, Alpine’s deal with Binance, Haas’s deal with OpenSea, and Red Bull Racing’s reported $150M deal with Bybit that was signed in February 2022.

The partnership between Williams and Kraken will also see the creation of limited-edition caps for select races, the collaboration on content to educate fans about Web3, and Kraken’s participation in pop-up experiences and F1 Fan Zone initiatives hosted by Williams Racing throughout the season. James Bower, Williams Racing Commercial Director, said in a statement that the partnership would offer the team’s fans cutting-edge crypto and Web3 experiences, while enabling Kraken to reach new institutional clients and businesses through the network and events.