Mercedes F1 Team Suspends Deal W/ Crypto Giant FTX, Removes Logo From Cars
Mercedes F1 Team Suspends Partnership W/ FTX ... Amid Bankruptcy
Lewis Hamilton and George Russell's cars will look a little different during the Brazilian Grand Prix ... Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 team has removed the logo of bankrupt crypto exchange FTX after the company went belly up this week.
The MB F1 team, currently in 3rd place in the Constructors standings, made the announcement on Friday, just days before Sunday's GP, saying they'd suspended their partnership and removed the FTX logo from their cars.
FTX was one of the world's biggest crypto exchanges ... keyword was. The company, valued at over $30 billion just weeks ago, became insolvent after they were unable to pay out users. Basically, they didn't have enough money to cash users out.
It's particularly infuriating for many customers because as recent as Thursday, the company insisted they were "100% liquid," tweeting "Every user could fully withdraw [their money]."
One day later ... bankrupt.
And, Mercedes F1 isn't the only team or athlete affected by FTX's demise. Tom Brady was heavily invested in the company. TB12 and Gisele even appeared in a commercial for FTX.
Steph Curry, Naomi Osaka, Shohei Ohtani and others were also involved with the company. The Miami Heat even play at FTX Arena ... which the crypto company promised to pay $135 million to rename back in 2021. It's likely they default on that agreement.
On Friday, FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried resigned, and the company filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy. Many people, including some of the biggest celebs, lost an immense amount of money.
The Brazilian Grand Prix goes down Sunday from the Interlagos race track in Sao Paulo ... the Mercedes car will look just a little different.
