W Series team CortDAO Racing are challenging traditional motorsport funding options with the release of 10,000 NFT’s to secure additional investment. The team aim to raise $1 million through the scheme, with one third to be invested towards sponsorship of the team and the remainder going towards CortDAO’s investment in the W Series.
Built around a community of motorsport fans and crypto pioneers, a clear goal of the team being driving social change and pushing for a reform in motorsports with regard to female participation. T
he community owned racing team (Cort) runs as a decentralised autonomous organisation (DAO), which means they are run by the community with financial transactions maintained on a blockchain.
NFT’s, known fully as a non-fungible token, are unique, digital media which are owned by the purchaser. A comparison would be owning tangible artwork, however these are solely in a digital environment. In this instance, the NFT’s released by CortDAO Racing feature 5000 images of their two driver’s helmets, with unique identifiers applied to each image.
CortDAO was founded with “the mission to build a community-led platform that could authentically promote female racers and further women in motorsports,” the team states. One of the first targets for this project was establishing a W Series team, which was launched ahead of the 2022 season.
The founder of CortDAO, Michael Livingston, states “Our NFTs will bring fans closer to the action and allow them to feel a sense of pride as their money will go towards supporting women struggling to succeed in a male-dominated sport.”
“CortDAO will not receive any profits from the sale of its NFTs, so our intentions are genuine. The proceeds after costs will flow to W Series so that purchasers will be helping not only CortDAO and our brilliant drivers, Fabienne Wohlwend and Marta Garcia, but also the whole W Series.”
CortDAO currently sit in 7th of 9 teams in this seasons W Series, with Wohlwend finishing an impressive 4th at Silverstone this evening. Garcia sustained front wing damage in the race and finished at the rear of the field in 18th.