Scuderia Ferrari has removed Velas from its list of partners, spelling another negative development for cryptocurrency – which continues to lose its footing in F1.
The Italian squad announced their partnership with Velas at the end of 2021, at a time when F1 teams seemed enthusiastic about reaching agreements with crypto companies.
The landscape has changed significantly in the last twelve months, with cryptocurrency and blockchains losing their value at a substantial rate.
Mercedes' official crypto partner, FTX, filed for bankruptcy at the end of 2022 – serving as the most obvious example of the volatility and insecurity of cryptocurrency sponsors in Formula 1.
Even without a cutting-edge understanding of the crypto and NFT world, it seems fairly uncontroversial to say that things are looking bleak.
Last year, the majority of the F1 grid had some form of crypto agreement or sponsorship.
Although this is still the case, the trend seems to be moving quite unequivocally in one direction.
The latest development in F1's relationship with cryptocurrency is between Ferrari and their crypto partner – Velas.
According to the Ferrari website, Velas was a blockchain network "undergoing active efforts of being certified as a Climate Neutral blockchain."
This relates to one of the factors – among many – that has generated such hostility towards cryptocurrency in Formula 1. The environmental impact.
In this sense, Velas was seemingly working to differentiate itself from the rest of the market.
Regardless of this apparent environmental conscientiousness, what was initially a "multi-year agreement" between Velas and Ferrari appears to have concluded prematurely.
Coinmarketcap shows a significant drop in the value of Velas in the market, which is perhaps the reason for the end of this partnership.
Ferrari announced Velas as a Premium Partner in December 2021, so there has surely been a quite significant downturn for this partnership to end.
If last year is anything to go by, the presence of NFTs and crypto companies in F1 are set to diminish in the upcoming seasons.
