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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 first— here’s “The Real Slim Shady” singer’s X post with the Crypto.com advertisement:
You know what it’s always been. #FFTB #Ad @cryptocom pic.twitter.com/XZ3Qf7TkkR
— Marshall Mathers (@Eminem) April 26, 2024
“From the beginning you couldn’t stop, breaking resistance with every swing and block. Your game plan never changed.”
Bloomberg called the collaboration between a major crypto exchange, the hip-hop superstar, and the NBA a “sign of a dramatic shift in the crypto industry’s marketing and advertising efforts.”
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 – Notorious Doge Father
To the inveterate engineer and CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, finance isn’t 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, “Dogecoin might be my fav cryptocurrency. It’s pretty cool.”
Styling himself the “Doge Father,” Musk has said regarding his vocal support for cryptocurrencies:
“I might pump, but I don’t dump.”
2. Lindsay Lohan – Dollar Inflation Hawk
In Feb. 2021, less than a year after Bitcoin’s third halving, “Parent Trap” and “Mean Girls” star Lindsay Lohan tweeted “Bitcoin To The Moon” with a rocket emoji.
bitcoin to the moon 🚀
— Lindsay Lohan (@lindsaylohan) February 10, 2021
Lohan’s endorsement was true to form. As early as 2011, Lindsay tweeted that she was concerned inflation is getting out of control.
“Have you guys seen food and gas prices lately? U.S. $ will soon be worthless if the Fed keeps printing money!” Lohan posted.
3. Maisie Williams – Arya Long Bitcoin?
In Nov. 2020, just six months after Bitcoin’s four-year supply cut, HBO “Game of Thrones” star Maisie Williams tweeted, “Should I go long on Bitcoin” in 2020?” with a poll.
Nearly a million Twitter users voted, and 53% said “No,” while 47% said “Yes.”
should i go long on bitcoin ?
— Maisie Williams (@Maisie_Williams) November 16, 2020
4. Snoop Dogg – 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 “Gin and Juice” 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: “Snoop Doge.”
@elonmusk pic.twitter.com/KElwKghpei
— 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 “HODLE!”
5. Ashton Kutcher – Early Bitcoin Investor
“That 70’s Show” actress Mila Kunis repped Bitcoin on Stephen Colbert’s show in 2021. Kunis told Colbert that Kutcher, who played Steve Jobs in the indie biopic “Jobs,” got them investing in Bitcoin as early as 2013.
“He sat me down and was like, ‘Hey, babe, I got to explain this thing to you; tell me if I’m crazy.’ He’s like, ‘There’s this thing, it’s like mining for money. It’s called cryptocurrency. And there’s this company.’ This was eight-plus years ago— ‘It’s called Bitcoin,'” Kunis told Colbert.
“I was like, ‘Well, I think this is a horrible idea,’ she continued. “And he went, ‘Cool, we’re investing in it.’ So, he didn’t listen to me. I mean, this happens all the time.”
6. LeBron James – 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 history’s first advertisement for the Singapore-based crypto exchange featured James giving advice to his younger self.
In the ad, James from the Future said, “I can’t tell you everything, but if you want to make history, you’ve got to call your own shots.”
7. Mark Cuban – Endorsed Polygon and Injective
In January this year, ABC Network’s “Shark Tank” judge and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban highlighted Polygon (MATIC) and Injective (INJ) to his 8.8 million followers on X. He wrote, “I’ve invested in both (DYOR).”
Cuban’s answer to fans who asked him about crypto in the AMA-style interview on X reveals he’s bullish for Ethereum because Polygon is an Ethereum Layer-2 extending the base chain’s ecosystem, and Injective is an L1 crypto with an ERC20 bridge to Ethereum for multi-chain interoperability.
8. Kevin O’Leary – Once Crypto Skeptic, Now Bitcoin Bull
Canadian businessman Kevin O’Leary, one of the other judges on the hit ABC show about venture capitalism, was once a crypto skeptic who called Bitcoin “garbage” and a “useless currency.” Like the late Berkshire don Charlie Munger, O’Leary believed “there is nothing here except raw speculation.”
Today, he is not only a Bitcoin bull but also calls himself a Bitcoin “purist” who buys to hold “digital gold” for the long term.
O’Leary doesn’t even support Bitcoin ETFs because he thinks it’s 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 issuers’ fees, so crypto investors can accumulate faster.
Although O’Leary did predict the Bitcoin ETFs in July 2022.
9. Joe Rogan – Hyperbitcoinization Theory
Comedian, UFC announcer, and podcast king Joe Rogan told OpenAI CEO Sam Altman in an episode of his show last October:
“The real fascinating crypto is Bitcoin. To me, that’s the one that I think has the most likely possibility of becoming a universal viable currency. It’s 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 it’s been implemented.”
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.