F1’s Oracle Red Bull Racing Teams Up with Sui Blockchain in New Sponsorship Deal – Crypto Bull Market Back Again?

Sead Fadilpašić
Last updated: | 2 min read
Source: AdobeStock / kamilpetran

The Sui network, backed by Mysten Labs, has announced a multiyear partnership with the Red Bull Formula One Racing team.

Oracle Red Bull Racing signed the deal with Web3-focused software company Mysten Labs to build on Layer 1 blockchain and smart contract platform Sui, which became the team’s official blockchain partner, as per the announcement

Oracle Red Bull Racing team claimed to have “conducted an extensive market analysis” in order to find a blockchain to partner with, one that “empowers race fans to engage” in novel ways.

Sui, they said, brings into the partnership an expanding range of digital experiences, available globally, which will enable fans to connect with Oracle Red Bull Racing via innovative and new methods.

Greg Siourounis, Managing Director of the Sui Foundation, said that the partnership “demonstrates how web3 enables human connections.”

Similarly, Evan Cheng, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Mysten Labs, said that the deal would allow the teams to show “the true power” of blockchain, adding:

“The potential of blockchain technology to fundamentally change the way humans transact, interact and communicate is enormous.”

An Early Blockchain Adopter

Per Oracle Red Bull Racing Team Principal and CEO Christian Horner, Oracle Red Bull Racing was an early adopter of blockchain in Formula 1, recognizing its potential to connect fans globally.

In February 2022, the team signed a $150 million sponsorship agreement with crypto exchange Bybit, with the latter taking on the role of the “Issuance Partner” for the racing team’s fan tokens and non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

Besides becoming a Fan Token Issuance Partner, the exchange was also designated a Principal Team Partner and a Tech Incubator Partner.

With a value of USD 50 million per year for three years, totaling USD 150m, the deal was the largest sponsorship agreement on a per-year basis for a crypto company in sports.

Sui, meanwhile, is a designated Proof-of-Stake (dPoS) blockchain. The protocol utilizes a modified version of the Move programming language, which was initially created at Meta (aka Facebook) before the social media giant stepped back from its Diem project.

The Sui team launched the mainnet in May this year. 

The price of SUI, Sui’s native token, was down nearly 1% today. At the time of writing (Friday morning, UTC), it was changing hands at $0.95. It was down 4% in a day and 16% in two weeks. 

SUI price chart since the mainnet launch: 

Source: coingecko.com

At the same time, the majority of the top 100 coins by market capitalization were up: Bitcoin (BTC) appreciated nearly 1% in a day and 2.4% in a week, trading at $27,133, while the price of Ethereum (ETH) increased 1.6% in a day and 4% in a week, to $1,892. 

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