Polkadot lovers cheer because the cryptocurrency ventures into the center of the Indianapolis 500, with IndyCar racing standout Conor Daly chosen as its model ambassador following a group vote. The collaboration, set to span a yr, was unveiled throughout a press convention on Tuesday and can kick off at the celebrated race slated for Could.
A proposal to sponsor Daly garnered an amazing 95.8% approval in a group vote on the Polk Meeting web site. The proposal, open for overview from February 19 to March 14, sought 290,000 DOT, valued at roughly $2.1 million, to cowl the $1.7 million business sponsorship payment for a race staff alongside with different bills.
“The Indy 500 is iconic and is the best spectacle in racing—ask any race automobile driver and it’s the one race they’d wish to win,” famous Chris Wade, a Polkadot group contributor who spearheaded the initiative.
Wade additional defined, “Plus, Polkadot’s sponsorship of Conor contains a NASCAR truck and Nitro Cross Race, and Conor’s expertise straddles all of them.”
Daly has pushed within the Indy 500, Daytona 500, and the Formulation 2 sequence in Europe.
“He’s quick, highly effective, and adaptive—identical to Polkadot,” Wade remarked.
Polkadot, based in 2020 by Ethereum Co-Founder Gavin Wooden, features as a “multi-chain community” aiming to interlink numerous specialised blockchains into a unified community. Presently ranked because the fifteenth largest blockchain by market capitalization in keeping with CoinGecko, Polkadot (DOT) has seen a 3.2% enhance within the week, buying and selling at $8.84.
Daly expressed his gratitude, stating, “The truth that hundreds of people within the Polkadot group—not a company advertising staff—used their voices to vote and choose me as their ambassador is an unimaginable honour and reflective of the facility of what a extra free and open web can appear like sooner or later.”
The sponsorship settlement with Daly, facilitated by means of Dreyer & Reinbold Racing and Cusick Motorsports, marks the newest collaboration between the racing and cryptocurrency sectors.
In 2021, McLaren Racing partnered with Tezos to launch a assortment of Formulation 1 NFTs. February 2022 witnessed Pink Bull Racing sealing a $150 million sponsorship pact with the cryptocurrency alternate Bybit. This was adopted by one other deal in June 2023 with Sui blockchain creator Mysten Labs.
In January, Grammy Award-winning rapper Drake revealed a two-year naming sponsorship deal between Sauber Formulation 1 and the crypto playing platform Stake.
“The truth that I’m racing not only for a model identify or brand, however representing builders, traders and common folks which are constructing tomorrow’s internet, is thrilling and overwhelming,” Daly added. “We’re bringing energy again to folks, whereas making sports activities historical past.”