FTX…Major MBz AMG sponsor goes bust….

Not an especially well written article. There’s much more in the general business press, but without the F1 emphasis.

http://www.essentiallysports.com/f1-news-mercedes-f1-takes-major-hit-in-crypto-crash-as-32-billion-sponsor-faces-bankruptcy/

Does anybody know the extent of FTX’s sponsorship? Apparently the guy behind it went from $13B to busted in a week.

 

Easily replaced. Crypto is in free fall on most fronts lol. News? Been over a week since this has been brewing. Tom Brady is also looking at a Crypto meltdown(his own silly little exchange), as are others. The margin calls are coming and have been. Not really an issue for Mercedes lol. If this was a HAAS main sponsor or some other team that pays to get passed at each race it might be of major interest.

Check the value of the actual MAJOR sponsors of Mercedes: INEOS, Hewlett Packard, Petronas, USB and others. FTX is a joke in that pool lol.

Here is the Autosport article. Much better written than the atrocious hype and poor linguistics of the other article above linked

Formula 1 / São Paulo GP News
Mercedes to retain FTX logos despite crypto exchange crisis
Mercedes is to keep the stickers of troubled crypto exchange firm FTX on its Formula 1 car for this weekend’s Brazilian Grand Prix, despite the near-collapse of the company.

By: Jonathan Noble
Nov 10, 2022, 8:52 PM

FTX is facing bankruptcy if it cannot raise billions of dollars to get itself out of a liquidity crisis that erupted at its affiliated Alameda Research company this week.

An initial plan for it to be rescued by rival exchange Binance, which is a sponsor of the Alpine team, collapsed after just 24 hours amid concerns about the scale of the financial hole FTX faced.

A statement from Binance said: “In the beginning, our hope was to be able to support FTX’s customers to provide liquidity, but the issues are beyond our control or ability to help.”

Reuters news agency has reported that the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is investigating FTX's handling of customer funds and its crypto-lending activities.

The troubles for FTX, one of the most high-profile crypto exchanges in the world, have triggered a meltdown in the crypto markets and pushed Bitcoin to its lowest price for two years.

The FTX exchange’s FTT token crashed from a price of more than $25 earlier this week to a low of less than $2 amid the height of panic selling after the news of the problems. It has since made a small recovery.

FTX’s founder and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried is still hoping that a rescue package can be put in place to save the exchange, but there are doubts about whether or not he will be successful. This has fuelled speculation that its partnership with Mercedes could come to an early end.

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Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes attends FTX Off The Grid

Photo by: New Revolution Media

At the height of its success, FTX got involved in several high-profile sporting sponsorships. This included a $135 million deal for the Miami Heats’ NBA arena in Miami to be renamed the FTX Arena until 2040, as well as it being the official cryptocurrency brand of Major League Baseball.

FTX also tied up with the Mercedes team in a multi-year sponsorship deal that was announced last September. As well at FTX logos appearing on the car and drivers’ overalls, they have been working together on other projects, including NFT launches.

At this year’s Miami Grand Prix, FTX pulled off a major activation, called Off the Grid, on South Beach which included live music and Mercedes show car demonstrations.

But despite the cloud hanging over FTX, Mercedes has confirmed the company’s logos will continue to run on the car and other associated assets for this weekend’s event in Interlagos. The team will, however, keep a close eye on developments surrounding the exchange as things move forward.

Speaking about the FTX deal earlier this year amid questions about the risks F1 teams were taking in being associated with the volatile crypto industry, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said it would have been wrong of the series to ignore potential business opportunities.

“You can't shut yourself down to modern technology,” he said. “It's definitely an area that will grow.

“When we are looking back in 10 years' time, having to make payments that take two days and can't be done outside of week hours, it is something that's going to be a relic of the past. And this is where cryptocurrencies are coming.”

 

I posted about Crypto.com being in trouble earlier. Check the podium for their logo in F1. So the FIA and Liberty has a crypto issue lol.

https://protos.com/crypto-com-is-in-big-trouble-but-the-warnings-were-there/

Crypto.com is in big trouble — but the warnings were there

Crypto.com did its best to buy its way to the top of the crypto industry. Its massive marketing spend, including a slick Super Bowl ad, managed to attract a peak 50 million registered users and by February 2022, it had cemented its position as a top 10 spot crypto exchanges.

Unfortunately, it overextended itself.

Since its glossy Super Bowl spot, executives have laid-off staff for months, and new user onboarding schemes that advertised ultra-high interest rates have collapsed alongside the company’s CRO token that subsidized those schemes. Researchers have also discovered suspicious ties to the fraudulent company, Wirecard.

However, this was far from the only ‘red flag’ that on closer inspection should have pointed to things not being quite right with Crypto.com.

Red flag #1: Dramatic irony at the Super Bowl
Crypto.com became one of a few digital asset companies to have a commercial air during the Super Bowl. Its famous Fortune Favors the Brave commercial featured oscar-winning A-lister Matt Damon. The irony was immediately apparent.

The point of the commercial — laughable at first — was to equate buying crypto assets such as Crypto.com’s token with early space travel, 18th century high seas expeditions, or the Wright brothers’ maiden flight.

Moreover, the catchphrase is “fortune favors the bold,” not brave. Pliny the Elder popularized the phrase before sailing toward Mt. Vesuvius where he immediately died amid volcanic shrapnel and sulfurous fumes.

Indeed, it was so bad that South Park satirized the ad for a full TV episode.

The commercial’s dramatic irony provided a clue to viewers about the credibility of the advertiser, namely that, despite millions of dollars in production and broadcast costs, the company couldn’t manage to write an intelligent script.

Red flag #2: Crypto.com slashing headcount
Lay-offs are an obvious sign of corporate trouble. By June 2022, Crypto.com had laid off as many as 2,000 employees from its 2021 peak, according to Ad Age.

For its part, the company rebutted Ad Age’s figure, although it did confirm that its workforce once totaled over 5,000 people, that it had been laying off hundreds of workers, and wouldn’t confirm its total headcount reduction since its peak.

Red flag #3: Slashing marketing spend
Crypto.com spent a lot of money on marketing, including a Super Bowl ad that cost millions. The naming rights for the Los Angeles Lakers’ stadium reportedly cost as much as $700 million across 20 years. That deal earned mixed reactions from basketball fans. One Los Angeles Lakers player said the new name would feel “weird” for a while (the venue had been called the Staples Center since 1999).

The company also backed out of a sponsorship deal with a soccer team, Angel FC, in the same city. It also slashed sponsorship dollars allocated to e-sports streams on Twitch.

The company was also forced to tone down its messaging in ads, including reckless endorsements ruled illegal by the UK Advertising Standards Authority.

Red flag #4: CRO schemes collapse
The original team behind what eventually became Crypto.com issued and sold about $26 million worth of CRO’s predecessor token, MCO, via a traditional ICO in 2017. (MCO holders swapped to CRO during the company’s rebrand in 2020.)

In the years that followed, the company and its various executives and partners sold untold millions more worth of MCO/CRO.

Originally called Crypto.org Coin (flexing its ownership of both .com and .org TLDs), Crypto.com rebranded CRO to “Cronos” in February 2022 — the same month as its Super Bowl ads.


There are several similarities between Crypto.com’s CRO and Celsius’ CEL. Both tokens funded accounts managed by the entities who issued them, subsidizing the operators with extra capital from which they paid monetary incentives to attract new users. Both also increased yield to customers who locked up the token. They also offered loyalty and usage bonuses, including discounts on various services.

In Crypto.com’s case, it promised debit cards with a tiered cashback system payable in CRO. Investors who bought and staked at least $400,000 in CRO tokens — a staggering sum — could earn an equally staggering 8% cashback on purchases.

This incredible cashback offer at least quadrupled the average rate of elite cards from non-crypto card issuers.

The 8% figure, of course, was only sustained by a reliable stream of new users buying and locking up CRO tokens. When Crypto.com couldn’t maintain new user sign-up velocity, it predictably slashed its cashback.

It started charging other fees, as well. One Redditor even reported receiving an email from Crypto.com that said it would start charging cardholders who staked less than $40,000 in CRO tokens a 3% foreign transaction fee.

Crypto.com also offered perks for locking up CRO like free Netflix, Spotify, and Amazon Prime subscriptions, discounts on bookings at Expedia and AirBnB, and a private jet partnership for big investors.

Investors staking CRO for long periods of time could earn an even higher interest rate: up to 12% APY in staking rewards.

By way of comparison, US banks’ certificates of deposit (CDs) tend to top out around 3.5% APY.

Readers will recall that Celsius Network used to offer a comparable APY on stablecoin deposits if stakers accepted payouts in its native CEL token. CEL is now nearly worthless amid Celsius’ bankruptcy proceedings.

Crypto.com apparently couldn’t sustain that high APY once it had already lured depositors. When it slashed its staking rewards in May 2022, the price of CRO halved within a month.

CRO once traded at a high of $0.98 on November 24, 2021, right around the time that Crypto.com announced a deal to rename the Los Angeles Lakers’ stadium. CRO has declined to $0.11 today.

Red flag #5: Suspicious connections to collapsed companies
Crypto.com didn’t help itself by choosing Wirecard as a card issuer. Wirecard filed for insolvency in June 2020 and is widely considered to be one of the largest frauds in modern German history.

Wirecard’s problems started coming to a head when the auditors at Ernst & Young refused to rubberstamp accounting documents for 2019. This failed audit forced Wirecard CEO Markus Braun to admit that the firm had somehow misplaced over $2 billion.

Crypto.com CEO Kris Marszalek promised to refund debit card users who lost money due to Wirecard’s insolvency.

Wirecard AG filed for insolvency in Germany today.

To all our card customers: your fiat funds are safe and guaranteed by https://t.co/pFc4PzqqHR — in case any of the services provided by Wirecard are disrupted, you will receive a fast 100% credit back to your crypto wallet.

— Kris | Crypto.com (@Kris) June 25, 2020
Crypto.com apologizes for selecting one of the largest frauds in modern history as its card provider.
Read more: Even Matt Damon couldn’t save 2,000 Crypto.com staff

Wirecard’s bankruptcy also badly impacted fellow crypto debit card issuer TenX. It never recovered and hasn’t tweeted since 2021. TenX’s website remains offline.

Besides impacting Crypto.com and TenX, Wirecard’s bankruptcy got the attention of Germany’s financial system. It owed creditors $4 billion at the time of the bankruptcy. Some of its creditors said they were not counting on getting that money back. EY called it “an elaborate and sophisticated fraud.”

Finally, there were rumors that Wirecard and Crypto.com shared an executive with the last name Marsalek. However, Jan Marsalek was a Wirecard Chief Operating Officer; Kris Marszalek (with a “z”) is the CEO of Crypto.com.

Kris Marszalek does have a curious past, however, including the total collapse of a publicly listed company in Australia, Ensogo, and its subsidiary, BeeCrazy.

Conclusion
Crypto.com needs more people to buy and lock up CRO. Given the token’s 88% decline since November 24, 2021, however, demand seems to be waning.

As CRO declines, lay-offs continue, and cashback offers dwindle, Crypto.com will soon run out of money to buy the expensive ads needed to distract users from its own red flags.

Its Super Bowl commercial might have earned millions of impressions, but its long-term effect might have been the exact opposite of what the company intended.

Lay-offs are accelerating. Its main token, CRO, is approaching all-time lows, and it’s suffering a catastrophic loss of investor confidence. Its suspicious connections to failed companies like Wirecard, Ensego, and TenX have done little to restore that confidence.

In all, it is entirely unclear whether Crypto.com will be able to regain its position among top crypto exchanges. In mid-February 2022, the firm ranked among the top 10 spot exchanges but it’s fallen to 18th place today. Overspending on questionable marketing might have irreparably impaired the company’s ability to sustain its lofty rank.

 

FTX is a massive ponzi. Follow the money.

 

Defines the so called "Crypto" world. F1 can do better than that but........its F1 and is rarely clean lol

 

Major sponsor? I had to search to find the decals on the car, Mercedes can replace that money with their pocket change.

 

Mercedes suspends FTX sponsor deal; removes logos from F1 cars
Mercedes has now suspended its Formula 1 sponsorship deal with crisis-hit crypto exchange FTX, meaning the company’s logos will be removed from the team's cars from the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Amid a potential bankruptcy of the FTX exchange, and a looming investigation by the USA’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over the alleged misuse of customer deposits, Mercedes has responded overnight to the fast-changing situation.


While it had initially appeared likely to be keeping the FTX logos on its cars and assets for the Interlagos weekend, a Mercedes spokesman confirmed to Autosport on Friday morning in Brazil that it had put a stop to the deal.


“As a first step, we have suspended our partnership agreement with FTX,” said Mercedes.


“This means the company will no longer appear on our race car and other branded assets from this weekend. We will continue to monitor closely the situation as it evolves.”

 

Bankman-Fried will turn out to be another Madoff.

So now MBz decides to remove the logos….

 

They removed them HOURS ago! I would imagine prior to removing anything they ensured to LEGALLY review their contracts and agreements prior to such a move. They certainly knew this headline/data, released an hour ago, well before it was put out.

FTX Declares Bankruptcy and Sam Bankman-Fried Resigns in Latest Crypto Blowup
In the meantime, the Bahamas said it has frozen all of FTX’s assets. Crypto lender BlockFi also appears to be wrapped up in the exchange's failure.

 

Your point?

 

At this stage, all crypto is under the thumb of *.gov and could be valued at $0.00 at the whim of one of more *.gov.

Why would any legitimate business invest in any kind of crypto at this point.

 

I tried in the past to dissuade relatives from investing in crypto currencies, feeling it wasn't safe.
Obviously they didn't listen and went ahead with it.
It seems that I was right, even if the advice was coming from an old fart like me.

 

Too bad they didn’t make it into the new book about shady financiers in racing.

 

That's the thing I've been saying to those that have invested heavily in crypto and couldn't stop raving about it...

The moment Gov decides "no" on crypto, it's game over.

"but it's untracecable, what are they going to do?"

They don't need to go after individual accounts. Just revoke the Crypto exchange licenses. Those exchanges in some island in **** knows where can't and won't accept any clients with USD even for withdrawals, as they'll lose their license too and they're done. And local currencies? 99% of them are worthless and their central banks can't handle any decent sized transaction without crashing their own economy. lol.

IMO the crypto party is over. Some did very well out of it...congrats to them.

 

It seems that crypto and how it operates is under question. These exchanges, such as FTX or crypto.com are just companies offering services. FTX and crypto.com are simply just a companies trying to capitalize off of crypto and trading. Crypto doesn't need FTX and FTX has no effect on cryptos value, except public sentiment of course. Lehman Brothers collapsed yet the stock market prevails. Bernie Madoff, Enron, etc. are all examples of bad actors in the stock market. You can trade crypto on a napkin over dinner, no need for FTX or the like.

 

The music is about to stop very abruptly ..grab your seat before you lose everything...not just crypto.

 

Crypto, proof not all pyramids are in Egypt.

 

I hope nobody in the team lost anything in this apparent scam. Young, wealthy guys, though, tend to be risk takers and early adopters.

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