Grammy award-winning rapper Eminem recently cut an ad for Crypto.com to advertise blockchain to NBA fans. Here are 10 other celebrity endorsements that prove cryptocurrency adoption is accelerating.
But real quick firstâ hereâs âThe Real Slim Shadyâ singerâs X post with the Crypto.com advertisement:
You know what itâs always been. #FFTB #Ad @cryptocom pic.twitter.com/XZ3Qf7TkkR
â Marshall Mathers (@Eminem) April 26, 2024
âFrom the beginning you couldnât stop, breaking resistance with every swing and block. Your game plan never changed.â
Bloomberg called the collaboration between a major crypto exchange, the hip-hop superstar, and the NBA a âsign of a dramatic shift in the crypto industryâs marketing and advertising efforts.â
Celebrity crypto endorsements are appearing again in commercial advertising six months after a jury in New York delivered a guilty verdict in the fraud case against the founder of failed crypto exchange FTX.
Here are 10 other celebrity endorsements over the years that show just how far mainstream adoption has come for cryptocurrency since Bitcoin mined its first block on Jan 3, 2009:
1. Elon Musk â Notorious Doge Father
To the inveterate engineer and CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, finance isnât all that interesting. In May 2020, he told Joe Rogan that finance is just a matter of keeping track of money, but what we do with our resources to advance civilization is more interesting to him.
However, Musk recognizes the important innovations blockchain has produced in finance. In fact, he has been pumping Dogecoin since 2019, when he first posted on social media, âDogecoin might be my fav cryptocurrency. Itâs pretty cool.â
Styling himself the âDoge Father,â Musk has said regarding his vocal support for cryptocurrencies:
âI might pump, but I donât dump.â
2. Lindsay Lohan â Dollar Inflation Hawk
In Feb. 2021, less than a year after Bitcoinâs third halving, âParent Trapâ and âMean Girlsâ star Lindsay Lohan tweeted âBitcoin To The Moonâ with a rocket emoji.
bitcoin to the moon
â Lindsay Lohan (@lindsaylohan) February 10, 2021
Lohanâs endorsement was true to form. As early as 2011, Lindsay tweeted that she was concerned inflation is getting out of control.
âHave you guys seen food and gas prices lately? U.S. $ will soon be worthless if the Fed keeps printing money!â Lohan posted.
3. Maisie Williams â Arya Long Bitcoin?
In Nov. 2020, just six months after Bitcoinâs four-year supply cut, HBO âGame of Thronesâ star Maisie Williams tweeted, âShould I go long on Bitcoinâ in 2020?â with a poll.
Nearly a million Twitter users voted, and 53% said âNo,â while 47% said âYes.â
should i go long on bitcoin ?
â Maisie Williams (@Maisie_Williams) November 16, 2020
4. Snoop Dogg â Pumps Dogecoin
Around the time Lindsay Lohan shipped Bitcoin in Feb. 2021, RIAA gold and platinum selling hip hop artist Snoop Dogg pumped DOGE tokens on Twitter.
The âGin and Juiceâ singer had his mind on his money when he posted a photoshop of one of his album covers depicting him as a Shiba Inu, with the caption: âSnoop Doge.â
@elonmusk pic.twitter.com/KElwKghpei
â Snoop Dogg (@SnoopDogg) February 6, 2021
The price of DOGE tokens surged to a new record high of $0.0844 following the tweet from Snoop Dogg and another by Elon Musk. KISS frontman Gene Simmons joined in with a tweet encouraging Dogecoin owners to âHODLE!â
5. Ashton Kutcher â Early Bitcoin Investor
âThat 70âs Showâ actress Mila Kunis repped Bitcoin on Stephen Colbertâs show in 2021. Kunis told Colbert that Kutcher, who played Steve Jobs in the indie biopic âJobs,â got them investing in Bitcoin as early as 2013.
âHe sat me down and was like, âHey, babe, I got to explain this thing to you; tell me if Iâm crazy.â Heâs like, âThereâs this thing, itâs like mining for money. Itâs called cryptocurrency. And thereâs this company.â This was eight-plus years agoâ âItâs called Bitcoin,'â Kunis told Colbert.
âI was like, âWell, I think this is a horrible idea,â she continued. âAnd he went, âCool, weâre investing in it.â So, he didnât listen to me. I mean, this happens all the time.â
6. LeBron James â Cut an ad for Crypto.com in 2022
Los Angeles Lakers Power Forward LeBron James and the LeBron James Family Foundation signed a multi-year contract with Crypto.com in 2022. The all-time leading scorer in NBA historyâs first advertisement for the Singapore-based crypto exchange featured James giving advice to his younger self.
In the ad, James from the Future said, âI canât tell you everything, but if you want to make history, youâve got to call your own shots.â
7. Mark Cuban â Endorsed Polygon and Injective
In January this year, ABC Networkâs âShark Tankâ judge and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban highlighted Polygon (MATIC) and Injective (INJ) to his 8.8 million followers on X. He wrote, âIâve invested in both (DYOR).â
Cubanâs answer to fans who asked him about crypto in the AMA-style interview on X reveals heâs bullish for Ethereum because Polygon is an Ethereum Layer-2 extending the base chainâs ecosystem, and Injective is an L1 crypto with an ERC20 bridge to Ethereum for multi-chain interoperability.
8. Kevin OâLeary â Once Crypto Skeptic, Now Bitcoin Bull
Canadian businessman Kevin OâLeary, one of the other judges on the hit ABC show about venture capitalism, was once a crypto skeptic who called Bitcoin âgarbageâ and a âuseless currency.â Like the late Berkshire don Charlie Munger, OâLeary believed âthere is nothing here except raw speculation.â
Today, he is not only a Bitcoin bull but also calls himself a Bitcoin âpuristâ who buys to hold âdigital goldâ for the long term.
OâLeary doesnât even support Bitcoin ETFs because he thinks itâs better to custody your own on-chain BTC so you are the bearer of your private keys. Plus, he says it saves on paying those ETF issuersâ fees, so crypto investors can accumulate faster.
Although OâLeary did predict the Bitcoin ETFs in July 2022.
9. Joe Rogan â Hyperbitcoinization Theory
Comedian, UFC announcer, and podcast king Joe Rogan told OpenAI CEO Sam Altman in an episode of his show last October:
âThe real fascinating crypto is Bitcoin. To me, thatâs the one that I think has the most likely possibility of becoming a universal viable currency. Itâs limited in the amount that there can be [and] people mine it with their own [computer]. That to me is very fascinating. I love the fact that itâs been implemented.â
Rogan has also brought Bitcoin evangelist Andreas Antonopoulos onto his show for four separate episodes over the years to explain blockchain technology and the significance of cryptocurrency in the modern economy.
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