In an unprecedented move, Formula One, the organization behind the world’s most prestigious race, files for trademarks concerning NFTs, Crypto, and other digital assets.
The organizers filed the trademarks on August 23 in preparation for the Grand Prix that will be held in Las Vegas in November next year.
According to F1’s trademark application shared by the trademark lawyer Michael Kondoudis on Twitter, the application’s coverage includes NFTs, cryptocurrencies, and virtual currency services, among many others.
This move indicates that the racing giant might have plans to release an exclusive line of NFT collections to commemorate the event. And is viewed by some as a response to the massively successful NFT offerings of Gucci, Nike, Tiffany & Co., and several other luxury brands, which earned hundreds of millions of dollars in sales.
NFTs in F1 Racing
Though this was the first time F1 filed a trademark that covers NFTs and crypto, it was not the first time F1 teams dabbled in digital assets.
In fact, the Red Bull F1 Team and McLaren Racing F1 Team partnered with the Tezos blockchain to release their NFT collections last year.
This move was followed by the Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team, in partnership with Crypto.com launching an NFT drop in February to celebrate the release of the team’s car, AMR 22.
Then in May, Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team released their NFT collection through their partner, FTX US.
Lastly, the Scuderia Ferrari F1 Team partnered with Velas Network AG, a blockchain company, to release an NFT collection for the 2023 Grand Prix and other following races.
Crypto and NFT Setbacks in Formula One
Despite the growing support for NFTs and crypto among luxury brands and F1’s filing of NFT and crypto trademarks, there are still setbacks and hurdles they have encountered within the virtual assets industry.
Most notable is the shutting down of F1 Delta Time, one of the first major crypto games and the first officially licensed F1 game. It shut down in March this year due to the developer’s failure to renew the game’s license with Formula One for undisclosed reasons leaving its players with worthless NFTs and tokens.
In addition to the game’s shutdown, another hurdle that F1 encountered happened in this year’s Grand Prix in France, where F1 teams were forced to remove crypto-related ads due to France’s strict regulation of the crypto industry.
Las Vegas Grand Prix Outlook
Despite the hurdles and setbacks encountered by F1 this year, their outlook towards the Las Vegas Grand Prix next year is quite optimistic, as shown by their filing of trademarks concerning crypto and NFTs.
The reason for this bullish outlook is F1’s and cryptocurrency’s growing popularity within the country.
In addition, according to a marketing report of MIQ, Nevada, the host city for the next year’s Grand Prix, is one of the country’s crypto hotspots, which further adds to the excitement of the event.
