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NASCAR driver Landon Cassill partnered with crypto brokerage firm Voyager Digital for the remainder of the 2021 NASCAR season. He will be paid fully in cryptocurrency for the duration of the 19-race sponsorship deal.
“It’s something I’m familiar with, I’m comfortable with it, and I feel like I have a good handle on what I’m willing to risk and what I need to pay my bills,” Cassill said on being paid in cryptocurrency.
According to data site Comparably, salaries in NASCAR range from as little as $21,000 to as much as $500,00 per year. The average salary is roughly $112,000.
Cassill is a big fan of crypto and has already met the CEO of Voyager, Steve Ehrlich, years before this partnership.
“Landon also shares our vision of widespread crypto adoption, and we're proud to be the first company to secure a primary NASCAR sponsorship completely with crypto,” Ehrlich said.
On Saturday, Cassill’s car will sport a Voyager paint scheme, and Voyager employees will attend the Tennessee Lottery 250 race at the Nashville Superspeedway. Cassill added that while these details might be small, his team can now focus on the car's performance rather than thinking about selling sponsors week to week.
Litecoin will be the lead cryptocurrency in Cassill’s crypto initiative. “For Litecoin (LTC) to be used as payment to sponsor Landon Cassill is exciting and a validation of LTC's original purpose," said Litecoin's creator, Charlie Lee.
What’s more, the sponsorship is aligned with Elrich’s ambitions to “educate the masses” and stay ahead of the tech curve.
“When was the last time you actually used real greenback dollars? Most people don’t. They use debit cards, and everything is electronic anyway. So this is the next phase of electronic currency,” he added.
Crypto and NASCAR
Earlier this year, payments app Strike CEO Jack Mallers announced that the “Bitcoin Car” would race at the 105th annual Indianapolis 500, one of the world’s largest races.
Ed Carpenter teamed up with Mallers’ team to race for “Bitcoin awareness and Bitcoin open source development,” Mallers said at the time.
The Bitcoin Car did not win the Indy 500, but weeks before, Bitcoin fan Bryan Cook won a virtual NASCAR race in a car draped in Bitcoin logos.