McLaren Racing has chosen OKX as a primary partner of its McLaren Formula 1 team. The announcement comes just months after the French crypto exchange was also selected as the official cryptocurrency exchange partner of the English Premier League soccer team, Manchester F.C. Haider Rafique, Chief Marketing Officer of OKX, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.

Closing Bell

McLaren Racing Announces OKX as Primary Partner of McLaren Formula 1 Team

one of the world's biggest crypto exchanges has a need for speed. Okay X. Has been chosen by McLaren Racing as a primary partner of its McLaren Formula One team. The announcement comes just months after the french crypto exchange was also selected as the official Cryptocurrency exchange partner of the english soccer team. Manchester City joining us now from the F one Miami Grand prix, the chief marketing officer of Okay X. Hater, Rafiq Hater, Welcome to the show. I hope you're getting better weather than we are here in new york city. So it looks a little is it sunny behind you? It looks a little dreary, you know it is sunny but it's really muggy and it's you know it's okay. So before we get into the partnership and what you're doing in Miami, let's talk about okay, acts more broadly the crypto exchanges seeing arrival to others like finance and F. T. X. Too saturated space. How does okay X set itself apart Look, I think we're known for being the fastest most reliable crypto exchange in the market today. We also have some of the most variety of crypto assets so you can trade anything from Bitcoin all the way to N. F. T. S. Metaverse and and Game five tokens. So it's an exchange where you really can find anything that you're looking for and still be in a place where you can rely on your trading, You can rely on the fact that the the exchange will operate the way it needs to regardless of the market volatility. I want to know more about your partnership with McLaren F one. What is the purpose of this partnership, what are you expecting to come out of it later? I think you said it, we have a need for speed. Um, I think when you, when you think about it, uh, trading has so much to do with speed, innovation, performance, and what have you, and we are looking ultimately at partners who can help us celebrate that about, about crypto and the way we show up every day at work for our customers and investors around the world. I think, secondly, when we think about these partnerships, we are looking at Rockstar brands, we're looking at a portfolio of these companies that can really help us tell our story, but beyond us also help tell the younger audience around the world the real Crypto story and I think McLaren's just the right brand for us to be able to do that together at the first ever Miami Grand Prix, that's this sunday, the okay X brand McLaren car will be unveiled. I'm very excited to see that. Can you talk about what F one fans can expect here? I think they should expect us to do whatever we can as a company to supercharge their fan experience. What this could mean in the future is, there's gonna be a lot of product integration that the two brands will explore. This is not just about putting our logo on the McLaren cars. It is a lot about our intention at least, is to bring a lot of utility that f one fans are seeking from crypto companies to show up on the track. There's another partnership I want to ask you about that developed with your company in March with Man City. Tell us more about that. That was our first partnership. We know that football has an amazing distribution globally and we were looking for a partner that was really on the pinnacle of rising to the top and we think Manchester City is just that brand. But more importantly, when we look at these partners, I think it really boils down to relationship and the chemistry between the two teams and we found a really good relationship with them and it made us all the more confident that we should go into a multi year deal with them and partner together. Can you talk more about the relationship between crypto and sports? It seems to be going hand in hand. What drives these partnerships? And do you think this could fuel more crypto adoption going forward? I think it's time for crypto to come to the forefront and there are others in the industry who have done a phenomenal job being early on this front. So these are sports that people love and they admire and I think crypto brings such a huge amount of utility that there's so many possibilities to unlock what is what we're able to do together as crypto companies and bring crypto into these sports. Uh, beyond that, I think it is also about distribution. Most crypto companies are looking for distribution channels that are, that come with a certain level of loyalty and fan base. Uh, and I think those are the two key factors that are driving some of these partnerships globally. Earlier, you and I were talking about how competitive this space is. Okay. S has said it plans to overtake, been inside as the world's largest crypto exchange by capturing more of the market share in the West through major brand partnerships. Tell me more about that. We are bigger than life in ASia and some of the other markets and we know that it's time for us to now come to the western markets. Our product is ready, our team is ready, our services are there. So ultimately beyond even just looking at taking position one for us, we are really excited to bring the services that have been really well received in ASia and now introduced them to the customers in Western markets for all the car fans out there. Can you give us a little hint about what this McLaren is going to look like that's being unveiled this weekend. First off, I believe that okay, X is the sexiest crypto brand out there and so is McLaren. So what you're gonna see is just a rock star brand show up together at the track today, but there's a lot more ahead of us. I think what people at the, at these races or crypto folks can expect is that the branding will continue to increase as the years go by and and the car will have more creative output reflecting Okay X branding on it. I look forward to seeing it. Haider, Rafique CMO at Okay X. Enjoy that beautiful weather down in Miami. Thank you.