NASCAR driver Landon Cassill and Voyager Digital Ltd. have announced a partnership that will pay Cassill completely in cryptocurrency. Cassill will be paid in Litecoin (LTC) and Voyager Token (VGX) while driving a purple No. 4 car customized with full Voyager-branded wrap.
The vehicle will be driven in 19 NASCAR Xfinity Series races this season across 16 states, starting on Saturday with at the Tennessee Lottery 250 at the Nashville Superspeedway. The race will be broadcast live on NBCSN at 3:30pm ET.
“I’m a crypto user, and I’ve been involved for several years,” Cassill said in a phone interview. “This is something I’ve wanted to do for a while, but it was about finding the right partner to do it. A lot of my fans are crypto users and as of late, there’s been a lot of mainstream, retail attention on it. So from a community perspective and an athlete speaking for a space, timing was perfect this summer.”
Cassill met Voyager CEO Steve Ehrlich at a Litecoin summit in 2019 where they struck up a friendship over a shared an interest in cryptocurrency. Plans for a similar deal last year fell through amid the COVID-19 pandemic. As the world began to open up, Cassill said he called Ehlrich a couple weeks ago with the idea to put Voyager branding on a race car and accept cryptocurrency as payment.
“I think it’s really important that the people you do business with have a crypto understanding,” Ehrlich said in an interview. “We look for things that are good for the crypto industry in general to help bring support to the whole ecosystem. I think other’s will look at this and see opportunities in the space. This is about people having trust in a system outside of traditional systems.”
Voyager struck a pact with Miami Heat guard Victor Oladipo earlier this year. The company also worked with the Oakland Athletics to for all of the A’s 2021 home game for the price of one Bitcoin.
The agreement is a step forward for Litecoin in the crypto landscape. “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 and managing director of the Litecoin Foundation, Charlie Lee, in a release. “Landon has been a strong supporter of Litecoin and cryptocurrencies for a number of years, and this landmark deal shows the growing reach of the Litecoin community into the professional sports world and, eventually, beyond.”
More from Sportico.com