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Coinbase have become the official Crypto Partner of Aston Martin Aramco F1, their most aggressive sports investment since becoming the official crypto sponsor of the NBA and WNBA.

The partnership was paid entirely using the USDC stablecoin, marking it one of the first to be paid wholly in this manner. Branding will appear on the AMR25's halo and rear-wing end plate, prime real estate on an F1 car that typically commands eight-figure sums annually. Although numbers were not disclosed, considering competitor ByBit was spending $30m annually on Oracle Red Bull Racing, one would presume the figures are similar here.

Press releases have stated that Aston Martin Aramco will be exploring fan engagement opportunities onchain, which one would presume will be built on the Coinbase created Base Layer 2 blockchain.

Coinbase Marketing VP Gary Sun said:

The timing of the announcement is opportune, alongside Aston Martin F1’s AMR25’s first look on the 12th of February, with the full reveal happening on the 18th of February the week after. It also coincides with Coinbase’s impressive quarterly earnings.

The numbers posted by the cryptoasset giant are pretty staggering:

Over the past two years, Coinbase have diversified their business to drive revenue beyond just retail trading.

Lending, infrastructure, institutional custody and more have all driven the publicly listed exchange to new heights.

While it remains too soon to judge a partnership like this and how deep the integration is from a tech standpoint, one thing is clear; the FTX shadow still looms large.

I’ve seen this first hand when speaking to rights holders, especially in the U.S. — they are still reeling from the debacle that was FTX in late 2022. They were the biggest spenders in crypto from a sports sponsorship perspective, and it ended in an international scandal.

It’s not hard to see why there is still some apprehension around crypto sponsorships.

To add to this, I saw many comments from crypto sceptics or people from outside the industry say things like:

“Oh well, remember FTX 👀”

“History doesn’t repeat, but it often rhymes!”

A broken clock is right two times a day, I guess…

FTX will not be the last crypto business embroiled in some high-profile implosion, but people are looking at this the wrong way. The market is different now, more regulated — and Coinbase the company in question is publicly listed in the U.S. and holds several other regulatory licensees globally.

Crypto companies aren’t doing sponsorship deals in sport at the same volume they once were… when FTX were still around in 2021 and 2022.

The size of these deals is unknown, but some of them are still huge and high profile.

Crypto[dot]com are sponsors of Formula 1 and the UEFA Champions League, two of the most coveted sports inventories in the market.

Coinbase themselves are partnered with the NBA and WNBA.

Kraken boasts sponsorship deals with Williams Racing, Atletico De Madrid and Tottenham Hotspur.

There is still huge money being spent, but there is a maturation.

Exchanges are willing to spend a lot of money on these deals because they are making huge money. Reminder; Coinbase’s Q4 2024 revenue was $2.3bn. These businesses are also increasingly regulated and licensed, with Coinbase being the leader through their U.S. public listing. There are disclosures, rules and scrutiny they operate under that FTX for example, did not.

Blockchain infrastructure projects, on the other hand, are becoming more prudent in their spending.

Layer 2 Ethereum solution Polygon for example reportedly spent 8-figure sums on the likes of Nike and Starbucks, who both closed down their Web3 operations 3 years later.

Blockchain Algorand spent huge sums partnering with FIFA during the Qatar 2022 World Cup, and although numbers from activations were reasonably impressive, there is no way it was a good use of marketing spend.

Those deals are happening at a lower frequency, at much lower fees with more integrated strategies.

I’ll quote what HBAR CEO Charles Adkins recently wrote on LinkedIn:

Sometimes, however, sports rights holders want the fees that exchanges and memecoins will pay, but the technical expertise and promise to build that blockchain infrastructure businesses can promise. There’s a lag in their expectations, that I think will catch up soon.

It will be interesting to see how deep the integration with Aston Martin Aramco’s fan engagement stack goes.

F1 has become the crypto playground to some extent, but so far it has been mostly brand exposure and marketing rather than anything tech-oriented.

Indeed, looking at previous Coinbase marketing spend in sports — the activations have been surface level. QR codes at Golden State Warrior’s games, for example, giving $5 in Bitcoin to everyone who signs up to Coinbase is one example.

Something more integrated was their partnership with the Melbourne Marathon, giving away onchain medals in 2024— which was more meaningful and integrated to celebrate such a huge achievement.

Where it will be most interesting to see is what Coinbase optimise for in this partnership if there is more than just branding, which is what is touted in press releases.

Exchanges will typically optimise for:

a) Accounts opened
b) Funded accounts
c) Overall brand awareness.

Blockchains on the other hand will optimise for:

a) Wallets Created onchain
b) Wallets Funded onchain
c) Onchain activity
d) Value transferred onchain

With Coinbase having their hand in both the exchange and infrastructure pie, but likely paying 8 figures for this sponsorship deal — making the most of this beyond what an exchange would typically want to do is probably a smart idea.

Coinbase have not optimised for what a blockchain would do in sports partnerships thus far. Let’s see if that changes with this landmark partnership.

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