Mercedes’s long-term cryptocurrency partner FTX has been lining up NFTs to engage with their fans. And they couldn’t find a better ambassador than Shaquille O’ Neal, who has also been very active in the world of NFTs. After FTX announced its Off The Grid event, the former basketball player asked the official handle if they had an extra ticket. Indeed they did, and that means the NBA star will attend the Miami race.

FTX and Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team are collaborating with a wide range of artists in 2022; creating a set of race-inspired NFTs for fans to collect, trade and own. Starting  from Miami, Mercedes and FTX will be releasing special NFTs to be auctioned off throughout the race calendar.

For the upcoming race, Mercedes collaborated with Mad Dog Jones to create the first of the NFTs that fans can collect. Three such pieces will be released on which fans can start bidding. Two of the three NFTs will feature on the W13 driven by George Russell and Lewis Hamilton; and will be auctioned right after. The third NFT is bundled with a full-size 2022 Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula 1 car, wrapped in the NFT artwork.

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The auction of these art pieces will take place on the FTX US NFT marketplace exclusively. The team plans to donate the proceeds from this auction to charity Ignite, an initiative by Mercedes and Sir Lewis Hamilton with the goal to increase diversity and inclusion in motorsport.

Fans not sold on NFT partnership

The success of a Formula 1 team depends on how much money they are able to secure in terms of sponsorship. Back in the day, tobacco companies would be front runners in terms of sponsorship in F1 teams. But with the advent of the internet, it seems like NFTs and cryptocurrency are new tobacco sponsorship deals. Almost every F1 team on the grid have an NFT partnership of some kind.

But it seems like not everyone is sold on the idea and the opinions couldn’t be more divided. While the artists who are enthusiastic about the idea can make profits from it, others are skeptical. The classic argument is that one can just right-click and ‘save to desktop’ and acquire the same image for free. However, people have similarly argued that because of the blockchain, it remains unique to an individual and not anyone else.

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The environmental effects of using NFTs are what’s causing outrage among Formula 1 fans. The majority of NFTs use the Ethereum blockchain, which then uses a proof-of-work system to confirm each new block. Hence a huge number of computers race to solve the problem, which then confirms the block and collects the gas fees. With the rise of Ether prices and gas fees, miners are investing more in computer power resulting in more electricity consumption.
While it is particularly difficult to determine the total impact on the environment, it is quite clear that NFTs are here to stay for a long time on the grid.