Formula One Joins The Blockchain Industry

By Rishma Banerjee

As per recently published news, the newest name to associate itself with blockchain technology is one of the world’s best-known sports brands Formula 1 has partnered with a blockchain startup, Animoca Brands, in order to launch an F1 racing game on ethereum’s public blockchain. Animoca Brands have elaborated that the licensing agreement necessary for the development and publishing of the game F1 Delta Time has been approved already.

The game has features like non-fungible tokens (NFTs) which is based on Formula 1 intellectual property and will be launched on the 10th of May 2019. Yat Siu, co-founder and chairman of Animoca Brands said,

“Securing a partnership to make blockchain games with Formula 1 – one of the most recognised brands in sport – is a notable achievement… We will leverage Formula 1’s considerable global reach to drive product uptake and revenue growth as together we seek to increase consumer exposure to blockchain.”

Further details regarding this initiative will be revealed next week.

The game has been described as one which centres around the collection and trading of unique Cars, Drivers and Components – all of which will exist as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) based on the ERC-721 token standard. Fungible Tokens (FTs) based on the ERC-20 token standard will be acting as a currency in the game, and will thus be equally necessary as they will be used in transactions such as paying entry fees and purchasing certain items.

The F1 Delta Time team has said that they were currently focussing on building the core of the game itself. The full Delta Time game is made of several parts, where the primary target will be to make sure that this core is a fun experience.”

Confirmation of this collaboration has however not been made available by either Formula One, or their parent company Liberty Media, and it is unclear at this stage whether they’ve just bought the branding rights or whether there is closer collaboration.

This is the first big name, however, to in any way make an entrance into blockchain gaming, with Cryptokitties now “morphing” into Formula One racing cars.