Since the dawn of the “celebrity,” millions of people the world over have been thoroughly interested in their likes and dislikes, habits, diets, purchases, relationships, and on and on. In fact, entire careers have been made on investigating, following, and sometimes basically hounding celebrities for every possible nuance of personal information.
Of course numerous celebs also get involved in lucrative endorsement deals and, just like those companies are hoping for, tons of consumers are more than ready to follow the examples of their favorite celebrities and purchase those products or utilize those services.
While many celebrities wear bling, sport the latest high-end cars and trucks, live in expansive mansions, or even publicly invest in various industries or products, we wondered which among them are known to dabble or have an interest in the cryptocurrency industry.
Some of them might surprise you.
More Than a Passing Interest
There are likely hundreds, if not thousands, of celebrities that have actually purchased or even invested in some sort of cryptocurrency in recent history. However, there’s a couple of well-known people that seem to have much more than just a basic understanding of the possibilities of the technology and are actually actively involved in helping achieve utilization and mainstream integration.
Akon — In mid-2018, Grammy-nominated R&B singer Akon announced his vision for a crypto project known aptly enough as “Akoin.” Akon hopes to utilize it to help further develop his ongoing solar power project, Lighting Africa. In the official announcement for Akoin, Akon was quoted as saying, “I think that blockchain and crypto could be the savior for Africa in many ways.”
Imogen Heap — Showing an interest in both cryptocurrency and blockchain technology several years ago, Imogen has been involved with Mycelia and an app known as Creative Passport in project designed to use blockchain ledgers to help artists track and protect their creations.
Other Notable Names
Bitcoin and blockchain have both made their way into rap lyrics and even movie scripts and with mainstream media attention over the past couple of years, numerous celebs have been either associated with or directly involved with cryptos in some fashion or another.
A few of them are:
- Johnny Depp — Recently revealed his partnership in blockchain startup TaTaTu.
- Mike Tyson — Launched the Bitcoin ATM system in 2015 as well as partnered with the mobile trading app, Bitcoin Direct.
- Nas — The American hip-hop artist and rapper invested $25 million in Coinbase and has invested in at least 40 startup ventures and has been quoted as saying that he plans to continue to be involved in the blockchain and crypto industries.
- Ghostface Killah — This member of the hip-hop band Wu-Tang Clan founded Cream Capital, a company that earned $30 million during its ICO and focuses on the promotion and funding for cryptocurrency startups.
- Ashton Kutcher — With his company, A-Grade Investments, the well-known actor invested in and helped finance BitPay, a service that offers payment processing for merchants that have Bitcoin-friendly businesses.
- Richard Sherman — This Seattle Seahawks player is an investor in the Cobinhood crypto exchange and was an early investor in Bitcoin and several other cryptos, reportedly selling his Bitcoin when it was at $20,000 per coin.
Additionally, there are multiple artists that are promoting various cryptos or even accepting one or another as payment for their cds and even their compensation for concerts and tours. As cryptocurrency gains more traction and widespread use this year, chances are fairly certain that we’ll see both of these lists continue to grow.
