Bybit CEO explains why the exchange walked away from its Red Bull F1 sponsorship deal.

Bybit CEO Ben Zhou told the When Shift Happens podcast on April 23 that the company chose not to renew its Red Bull Formula 1 sponsorship because the commercial value of F1 deals had been eroding year over year, while activation costs kept climbing. Zhou noted that simply maintaining the execution team required to run the sponsorship could cost more than the sponsorship fee itself, making a break-even outcome increasingly unlikely.

Zhou also flagged a softer problem: the same guests were being invited to F1 events annually, creating what he called "relationship management" friction — where certain individuals came to expect an invitation as a given. Bybit is now actively evaluating branding opportunities it believes will deliver better return on spend.