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ÂCelebrities make the best ads, whether they are promoting a shampoo or a crypto token. With all the benefits fintech has to offer, more and more famous people are turning to blockchain as investors and brand ambassadors. Tech savvy is the new sexy. If you think non-techies don’t do numbers, watch Margot Robbie explain finance terms in a bubble bath with a glass of champagne.
Will the smart celeb trend prove bullish? If so, soon we’ll see Selena Gomez discoursing upon the price index in her Facebook posts, David Beckham will become a crypto insider on Twitter and Kylie Jenner will be selling lipsticks called BTC, ETH and XRP on Instagram.
Opinion leaders are commonplace in the IT-sphere, where we know them as evangelists. The term “software evangelist” was first applied to Mike Boich who promoted the Macintosh computer to win over third-party developers and beat IBM. Technology evangelists like Steve Jobs, Vint Cerf, Don Box, and Guy Kawasaki have not only been persuasive and charismatic, but they also have used specific technology marketing skills.
The same distinctions don’t necessarily apply to crypto ambassadors. Some of them are well-known experts that conduct groundbreaking research, while the rest are actors, TV hosts, successful musicians, professional sportsmen and fading stars hoping that the crypto hype will bring them back into the public eye.
We have put together a list of the 26 most interesting non-crypto celebrities who are involved in crypto. The last 5 are guaranteed to open your eyes real wide!
Ashton Kutcher – Hollywood’s Biggest Ripple Fan
Hollywood hottie Ashton Kutcher is probably the most prominent crypto enthusiast. He got involved early on with crypto and has made some big moves investing millions in BitPay and BitGo. The venture capitalist is crazy about all “Bit”-brands, and has worked with many projects to increase mass adoption.
Bitcoin…sort of like internet in the 80s. http://t.co/tR9eARa30o pic.twitter.com/eCQdYho9uw
— ashton kutcher (@aplusk) May 2, 2014
Lopez was among the first celebrities to receive bitcoins for her performances – 1,500 BTC, no taxes. On August 19, 2019, Wall Street Journal told the world that J Lo had invested in the fintech firm Acorns Grow Inc. Not only will she participate in Acorns’ “Keep the Change” investing program along with other celebs like Ashton Kutcher, Bono, and Kevin Durant, but also she may go on to design financial products tailored to her interests.
15 second reminder that y'all should go watch #Hustlers this weekend @HustlersMovie pic.twitter.com/3WpShEgnHb
— . (@jlogreeknews) September 20, 2019
Jerome Flynn – VeganNation Advisor from Game of Thrones
We know him as “Bronn” from the TV series Game of Thrones. What we don’t know is that the actor has joined the advisory board of Israel-based crypto project VeganNation. Flynn’s crypto-vegan position is high profile considering the fact that he is an animal rights activist who serves as a patron of the Vegetarian Society in the U.K. alongside Paul and Stella McCartney. Btw, clothes designed by Stella can be bought for crypto.
To all you beloved Thronies. I’m as excited as you are! And from what little I’ve seen I honestly believe this season is gonna top them all! May you enjoy every minute! Love and thanks for it all SBOTB ! pic.twitter.com/t7HUByYyw0
— Jerome Flynn (@JeromeFlynn) April 15, 2019
Ellen DeGeneres – TV Host Talking Bitcoin
Ellen does a lot more than make people giggle. This American opinion leader is a top-3 TV-show host boasting around 4.2+ million viewers per episode.
In her show on February 15, 2019, this non-techie compared Bitcoin to a goat that “doesn’t exist except for on that Internet.” She explained how BTC works by comparing it to the stock market, but in the end, she joked she’d “rather own a baby goat”. Ironically, on May 24, 2019, she got a $4 million donation in Ripple (XRP) from Ashton Kutcher while filming an episode of the Ellen DeGeneres Show.
Mariah Carey, Marilyn Manson, Slayer, Weezer, G-Eazy, Sia and Fallout Boy – Monero’s House Band
Who said pop singers, rappers and rockstars can’t get along? These seven are just a few on the list of 40+ recognizable artists who have joined forces with the privacy-oriented cryptocurrency Monero in the online Project Coral Reef. With the project, the online merchandise stores for Carey, Slayer, Motorhead and other select artists provide a 15% promo discount to elevate the awareness and viability of using Monero in everyday consumer transactions.
Cryptocurrency Monero To Be Accepted By Musicians Such As Mariah Carey, G-Eazy, Sia For Holidays https://t.co/kxfaY1BWLw
— Forbes (@Forbes) December 6, 2017
Lothar Matthaus, Tommy Haas, Nikita Kucherov and Martina Hingis – the TokenStars
With their combined skills, these guys would make an all-time triathlon squad. Instead they have come together as ambassadors for TokenStars, the first celebrity management platform on the blockchain. Lothar Matthaus, an ex-German football star and a crypto believer, said in the TokenStars AMA session that the project was his “first and only involvement in blockchain projects” and that he was “keen to learn more about the entire industry.”
https://twitter.com/TokenStars/status/1169972598664564736
David Stern – Former NBA Commissioner and Actual FanChain Advisor
The retired NBA commissioner is now an advisor on FanChain, “a cryptocurrency designed to create a decentralized sports entertainment ecosystem”, alongside NBA Legend Billy Owens and NFL player and entrepreneur Vernon Davis. It is designed to meet the unique needs of the global sports market.
“I still have trouble understanding why Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple — or the unlimited number of new issues — can have such untethered value,” Stern confessed to Forbes.
But nevertheless, he has chosen to participate in the industry he doesn’t fully get rather than be left out of the picture.
Great article in @YahooFinance about the official launch of FanChain, as FANZ get listed on LATOKEN today! https://t.co/jNRntlpvEZ
— FanChain (@FanChain) September 17, 2019
Ronaldinho – Face of RSC
Did you know that the Brazilian football star Ronaldo de Assis Moreira has launched a cryptocurrency project?
Ronaldinho Soccer Coin aims at establishing a football academy, hosting amateur and global league matches around the world, developing and operating a betting platform and marketplace, and developing digital VR stadiums that will analyze player skills and compile a blockchain database with which to create new teams. RSC’s Twitter is mostly in Chinese which reflects the origin and backing behind the project. But we’d like to think Ronaldinho does “want to bring a smile to as many people as possible through this project”.
Dennis Rodman – Flamboyant PotCoin Promoter
The last (but far from least!) athlete on the list is NBA Hall of Famer Dennis Rodman. Rodman has stirred up some controversy with his crypto-related activities, by wearing his PotCoin t-shirt and a MAGA cap to the historic summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korea’s Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un. Rodman’s trip to this geopolitical event was sponsored by PotCoin, a notorious cryptocurrency. It wasn’t the first time Rodman had promoted PotCoin, but it was the first time the coin was given a national audience on CNN.
Thanks to my loyal sponsors from @potcoin and my team at @Prince_Mrketing , I will be flying to Singapore for the historical Summit. I'll give whatever support is needed to my friends, @realDonaldTrump and Marshall Kim Jong Un. pic.twitter.com/QGPZ8nPrBE
— Dennis Rodman (@dennisrodman) June 8, 2018
Manny Pacquiao – Boxing Champ With a Coin
The famous boxer is not a gold digger trying to cash in on crypto. Looks like Manny created Pac, his own utility token, for the fans who buy his merchandise and contact him on social media. The project boasts investors like former Manchester United and England striker Michael Owen and Sheikh Khaled bin Zayed al-Nahyan, a member of Abu Dhabi’s ruling family. But Pacquiao himself is a high-profile figure, as he has been a senator in his home country of the Philippines since 2016. He has become the world’s biggest celebrity to launch a cryptocurrency.
#Boxing champ Manny #Pacquiao Launches World’s First #Celebrity #Cyrptocurrency > https://t.co/7uSTNUAa21 #PAC #coin #GCOX #crypto #coins
— SHORT SQUEEZED (@ShortSqueezed1) September 2, 2019
Steven Seagal and Floyd Mayweather – Celebs Tied to Shady ICOs
Not every crypto initiative is trustworthy. Ex-boxing champion and current boxing promoter “Floyd Crypto Mayweather” (as he once proudly called himself) endorsed an initial coin offering that turned out to be a scam. He posted ad tweets and photos with a Centra debit card which he apparently never used as it simply didn’t work. The former boxer is experienced in fraudulent crypto campaigns as he had previously done the same trick with the Stox and Hubii Network ICOs.
You can call me Floyd Crypto Mayweather from now on #HubiiNetwork #ICO starts tomorrow! Smart contracts for sports?! #CryptoMediaGroup #ad? pic.twitter.com/25GoMPuS7r
— Floyd Mayweather (@FloydMayweather) August 23, 2017
Now we come to Steven Seagal’s sad story of Bitcoiin endorsement. The aging action actor was a “worldwide brand ambassador,” promoting a cryptocurrency startup called Bitcoiin2Gen, or B2G throughout February and March 2018. We all know Seagal is “above the law,” but that shouldn’t enable him to promote potentially fraudulent ICOs.
Nicolás Maduro – Petro Coin President
Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro is more than a crypto believer. Following his order, Banco de Venezuela started to accept the nation’s oil-backed cryptocurrency, Petro (PTR), issued by the government. President of the country’s National Cryptocurrency Association José Angel Alvarez gave the following comment to CCN,
“It is a bold and correct decision to move forward towards a hybrid economy where the fiduciary currency of a country competes face to face with cryptocurrency.”
The US administration reacted to Maduro’s crypto machinations hawkishly. Donald Trump froze all Venezuelan government assets, which resulted in a new all-time-high for peer-to-peer trading volume on LocalBitcoins in the country.
Presidente de Venezuela, @NicolasMaduro, indica que en los prĂłximos dĂas realizará anuncios importantes con respecto a los trabajadores relacionados a la criptomoneda Petro ? https://t.co/M9ICPIbwEH #VenezuelaTerritorioDePaz pic.twitter.com/VGbRUconGi
— Carnet de la patria (@CarnetDLaPatria) October 5, 2019
Rick Santorum – Catholic Cathio Coin Endorser
If you’ve seen the video where a priest blesses the Prizm (PZM) cryptocurrency, then perhaps it is no wonder to you that religion and crypto have in some cases become strange bedfellows. The former US senator and Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum recently joined the board of Cathio, a Catholic cryptocurrency project.
“Cathio is a lay initiative that not only strives to save the Church money, but positions it to provide greater transparency of financial transactions and the connectivity of people of good will with good works” – Santorum told Standard Newswire.
The politician who is strongly opposed to abortion and same-sex marriage portrays Cathio as a new payment, remittance and funding platform for Catholic society.
I am very excited to be part of a company dedicated to helping the Catholic Church connect with younger believers. https://t.co/OZTHPrJuyh
— Rick Santorum (@RickSantorum) May 31, 2019
Alejandro Lambarri – Templar Ambassador
In a somewhat similar vein, a project called Maya Preferred 223, which puts out a stablecoin backed by Mexican gold and silver assets, caught our eye with its Knight Templar ambassador Alejandro Lambarri. Apparently Lambarri is an ordained Knight Templar living in Vatican City, and has joined the board of directors of Maya Preferred. Despite his international man of mystery vibe, little else is known about Lambarri outside of him being an “investor behind key technology projects” in fintech.
Matt Liston – Blockchain Messiah
Matt Liston, a self-described atheist, used to be the CEO of Augur, the prediction market platform. After a $152 million lawsuit filed against the remaining executives, Liston left the company and launched a blockchain-based religion known as 0x?.
The religion’s mascot is a narwhal called Dogewhal. In the “flame paper”, a play on the term “white paper”, the Cryptsiah (or, better, a Cryptophet?) described the religion, its governance model and “business model.” He is planning to change religious traditions including art patronage and missionary work. The blockchain prophet’s project 0xOmega has scared many people who have questioned the role religion should have in blockchain and the sanity of the project’s founder.
Liston’s Twitter says it all.
“The act of mining crypto is a ritual sacrifice of time in order to strengthen belief in a consensus network.”
https://twitter.com/malloc8/status/1170436985653063680
Jesus Christ – Bigger Blockchain Messiah
Jesus Coin is an Ethereum-based cryptocurrency with a market valuation of $1 million. Jesus Christ is credited as founder and CEO of the company, according to the website, with Judas Iscariot and Saint Peter named as a trustee and a public relations officer, respectively. Initially, the project was a joke thought up by a group of friends. But soon after the ICO launch, things started getting real. The coin offers healing, sin forgiveness through outsourcing and the chance to decentralize Jesus on the blockchain. The founders have claimed the value of the coin will someday hit $13 billion, which is as likely as Jesus’s resurrection was. After all, you can’t call Jesus a scam, right?
Think the religion stuff is over the top? Fun is fun, but the sphere is likely to generate profit considering the fact that in 2018, $127.37 billion lined the coffers of American religious organizations. As we can see, the rich and famous from all spheres are getting on board the fintech train. Some of the above-mentioned crypto ambassadors are captivated by the idea of decentralization and have realized the long-term benefits of crypto investment. Some fit into the ecosystem and contribute value to the community – financially and emotionally. Some just want to keep their head above water and see crypto as a life-line.
If you feel like you’ve got what it takes to make your mark in the industry, why not give it a shot? With the required skills, anyone can make money in this field.
Try your hand and apply to get from $20K – $110K working as a freelance or full-time blockchain evangelist, community lead, eeveloper advocate, or technical community manager.
Share this article on your socials to inspire the other crypto enthusiasts out there!
Amy Lee, BlockPR Agency
Journalist, blockchain geek and Bitcoin holder with a passion for PR in crypto. Amy writes about crypto and fintech and is experienced in social media marketing.
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