After football and wrestling, the cryptocurrency storm has reached NASCAR and Formula One

• While El Salvador still evaluates paying salaries via Bitcoin, NASCAR racing driver Landon Cassill has taken the plunge.
• It isn't surprising to see Cassill make the first move, as he's always been a crypto enthusiast.
• Even Formula One is taking a step forward with McLaren Racing unveiling its plans to build a non-fungible token (NFT) platform on the Tezos blockchain.

Cryptocurrencies are undergoing a process called normalisation — it means that methods that were once rare are now becoming the norm. After football and wrestling jumping onto the bandwagon, racing bigwigs NASCAR and Formula One are taking the plunge as well.

While El Salvador — the first country to accept Bitcoin as legal tender — is still evaluating whether or not it should dole out salaries in the form of cryptocurrency, NASCAR racing driver Landon Cassill has signed an agreement with cryptocurrency exchange Voyager to receive a complete cryptocurrency-backed compensation package.

This means that he will be paid through digital assets like Bitcoin and Litecoin only. While the racer didn't reveal the amount, he did disclose that Voyager was paying the ‘market rate’ despite an unorthodox payment method. Cassilll’s sponsorship deal includes 19 races, with the first one beginning at Nashville Superspeedway.

Meanwhile, Formula One is taking a step forward with McLaren Racing unveiling its plans to build a non-fungible token (NFT) platform on the Tezos blockchain.

The platform will list NFTs illustrating McLaren Racing's history, heritage, and famous drivers. It includes a wide variety of digital assets or media files like art, music, digital trading cards, memes, tweets, and much more. An NFT provides provable ownership and scarcity of an asset, indirectly adding value to it.

Landon Cassill has been a long time supporter of cryptocurrencies

It isn't surprising to see Cassill make the first move, as he's always been a crypto enthusiast. His Twitter feed is filled with crypto news, and he has previously spoken about mining Bitcoins in his basement. In addition, Cassill has long been an evangelist of the Litecoin Foundation and is a close friend of the cryptocurrency's creator, Charlie Lee.

"Landon has been a strong supporter of Litecoin and cryptocurrencies for a number of years, and this landmark deal shows the growing reach of the Litecoin community into the professional sports world and, eventually, beyond," Lee said in a statement. Cassill said that he might use the crypto in various ways and is unsure if he will hold, use or sell.

Tezos pulls in its second Formula One team

Tezos is an open-source blockchain for assets and applications that are continuously evolving with new upgrades. It's based on the proof of space concept, unlike Bitcoin's proof of work model, which requires a tremendous amount of energy.

Before McLaren came into the picture, Redbull's Formula One team also teamed up with the blockchain to leverage NFTs around three weeks ago.

Moreover, Formula One and Animoca have a blockchain game called F1 Delta Time. Last year, the game developer started auctioning NFTs for official team cars as collectables.

Racing is only the most recent sport to dive into world of cryptocurrency

While Bitcoin has been around for almost a decade, it just recently gained acceptance as legal tender in El Salvador. Not long ago, the fever reached Wall Street, and we're now seeing cryptos being bundled with Exchange Traded Fund (ETFs).

Similarly, the sensation can now be felt in sports, with more and more individuals and brands getting on board. Football teams like Manchester City, PSG, Barcelona, and AC Milan have launched their own tokens, and they have a unique use case. Fans can leverage these tokens to participate in a club's decision-making process, promotional campaigns, games, votes, and more.

Likewise, AEW star MJF became the first pro wrestler to release his own cryptocurrency.


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