You may have heard of Formula E, an alternative to Formula One racing featuring electric cars. Blockchain platform Algorand has partnered with Envision Racing to create a unique series of NFTs for the Formula E championship. Each NFT is a helmet depicting one of the locations where Formula E races are held.
What Is The Formula E NFT Series?
The Formula E NFT series features 8 unique helmets. Each helmet corresponds to a location holding a race as part of the Formula E Championship. This series intends to bring global awareness to sustainable innovation, creating a healthier planet today and in the future.
Each of the 8 helmets has a total of 1000 limited-edition NFTs available. The helmets have been designed by creative agency Funday and 3d artist Adam Spizak. Creative Director of Funday, Matty Schwartz, said that each design references recognisable visuals from their locations. Foliage grows on top of the helmet to signify their desire for a healthy planet.
NFTs for a specific region become mintable a week before the race. On the race day, City Edition NFTs are revealed to the public, with a chance to display special edition NFTs with utility rewards. These rewards can be either Gold or Silver editions.
Gold Edition NFTs are only available once per race. The holder can claim a unique, one-of-a-kind physical helmet with art inspired by their City Edition helmet. On the other hand, 9 Silver Edition helmets are available per race. Silver Edition holders are entitled to an Infinite Object digital frame featuring their city NFT.
If an individual collects all 8 unique helmets, they stand a chance to win a grand prize. This is described as “The ultimate Formula E racing experience in 2023,” but no further details have been provided.
The following cities have helmets available now:
- Rome
- Monaco
- Berlin
- Jakarta
- Marrakesh
- Vancouver
- New York
The cities of London and Seoul will also be available for minting in July and August respectively.
Read more: Are NFTs Becoming Mainstream?
Formula E Championship: What Is It?
The ABB FIA Formula E World Championship is a sustainable motorsport series featuring electric cars. Envisioned by Alejandro Agag and FIA President Jean Todt, it brought to life their vision of having an all-electric street racing series. Today, it is the fastest-growing motorsport series in the world.
Launched in 2014, the series debuted at the Olympic Park in Beijing. Today, the championship has 12 teams and 24 drivers on the grid. Ahead of the 2020/21 season, Formula E gained its World Championship status. This makes it the first single-seater racing series other than Formula One to attain it.
The Algorand Blockchain
Algorand is known as the “greenest blockchain”. It provides decentralisation and scalability while being environmentally sustainable. It is a blockchain development platform and a payment processor. Algorand’s development platform allows users to create their own crypto assets and blockchain projects. However, it is also a crypto asset itself with its native ALGO token.
The Algorand blockchain operates on a unique consensus mechanism known as Pure Proof-of-Stake. Under this system, validators are not rewarded for staking. There is also no risk of deduction from your staked tokens. Therefore, there is no incentive to cheat the system as there are no rewards or losses. The only way to increase the value of your holding is by engaging with the ecosystem.
Pure Proof-of-Stake enables Algorand to be millions of times more energy efficient than Bitcoin and Ethereum. It is a carbon-negative network, as it has more carbon credits than it consumes. All of this allows it to be the most sustainable blockchain in the world.
Read more: Proof of Work vs Proof of Stake
Envision Racing Partnership
Envision Racing is a team part of the Formula E World Championship. It announced a multi-year partnership with the Algorand Foundation. Through this, the two organisations intend to deploy blockchain solutions in the most environmentally-conscious way. As part of this partnership, Envision Racing has expanded on its ‘Race Against Climate Change’ programme.
The Formula E NFT series enables them to carry out the programme. All proceeds from the NFTs will go towards planting mangrove trees in Madagascar. This series is the first of many initiatives bringing sustainability and innovation to the field.
Envision Racing was the first carbon-neutral team in Formula E. It has also secured 11 wins and 33 podium finishes in its 84 races.
Final Thoughts
The Algorand Foundation and Envision Racing have taken a fantastic first step in their partnership. Visually appealing NFTs on a carbon-negative platform and proceeds going toward sustainability initiatives; what more could you ask for? We look forward to further additions to the Formula E NFT series, along with all future initiatives this partnership enables.
