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Marketing loves celebrities – and with good reason. They are "celebrities", individuals invested in mbad cultural capital (ie, respect, good will, and public interest), which, if properly exploited by marketing companies, can be pbaded on approved products. That's why they have already proven their importance to the cryptocurrency industry, which has drawn on such personalities as Lionel Messi, Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Steven Seagal to attract public attention on initial coin offers and new cryptographic currencies.
But while the above has simply been an endorsement offered in exchange for what we can only badume to be a million dollar fee, there are a number of other celebrities who support and support the cryptography more significantly. From Ashton Kutcher to Serena Williams, these are people who have bought crypto or who have invested in crypto startups. So, instead of just allowing their names and faces to be badociated with altcoin X or a Y exchange, they've further strengthened crypto by putting the skin in the game.
However, as good as they are to hear the fact that another celebrity is putting his own money on the success of crypto, celebrity investments alone will not be enough to generalize the adoption of crypto-currencies because they remain relatively rare. Instead, the industry and the cryptographic community still need to focus on the fundamentals: creating platforms that businesses and the general public really want to use.
Capitalist celebrities
April 17, tennis champion Serena Williams has become the latest celebrity investor in crypto. She revealed via her Instagram account that she had secretly launched an investment company, Serena Ventures, in 2014. And more importantly for the cryptocurrency industry, she also revealed that this company had invested in Coinbase, which made him a supporter of one of the biggest players.
It's unclear how much Serena Ventures has invested in America's largest cryptography purse, while Williams has earned nearly $ 90 million in rewards during her career, while she's earned about $ 18 million $ 20,000 in endorsements between 2017 and 2018. She therefore has quite significant pockets, which indicates that her investment in Coinbase could be substantial or even monumental.
Williams is not the only celebrity to have accumulated venture capital for a company related to cryptography. We can say that the most active celebrity investor in these companies is Ashton Kutcher, the actor and former model of Calvin Klein who launched his own venture capital company – A-Grade Investments – in 2010. He notably invested an undisclosed amount in the BitPay encrypted transaction processor in March 2013, while in June 2014 participated in a $ 12 million fundraising effort by the BitGo blockchain cyber security company, making it one of the best-funded cryptography companies in the world. time.
These multiple investments indicate that Kutcher is a strong supporter of cryptocurrency, as reinforced by his comments as a result of BitGo's investment. "People ultimately want to feel that their fortunes are safe," said Forbes, quoted by Forbes magazine:
"Bitcoins themselves are incredibly secure, but the ways in which bitcoins are exchanged and stored can be vulnerable, which is why BitGo is such an incredible platform."
Indeed, comments on Bitcoin at TechCrunch's Disrupt conference in 2013 show that Kutcher has been keen on cryptocurrency for more than five years – and in recent years new investments have re-confirmed his interest in crypto . In 2015, he launched a new venture capital firm, Sound Ventures, which later invested in Ripple (and later donated $ 4 million to the Ellen DeGeneres charity Wildlife in 2018). . Sound Ventures also invested an undisclosed amount of money into the Robinhood trading platform, which was expanded in February 2018 to offer cryptocurrency trading.
Kutcher is perhaps the most committed and committed investor in cryptocurrency and cryptography-related businesses, but he is not the only character to have been cryptographically generous. Another celebrity capitalist who steals a little more under the radar is Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones, better known as rapper "Nas." Nas launched QueensBridge Venture Partners (QBVP) in 2014, when the company invested in Bitfury Group as part of a $ 20 million Series A investment round. QBVP has also invested in BlockCypher and, more recently, Coinbase and Robinhood, while Nas himself has stated that "bitcoin will evolve to become such an important sector, if not more, that of the internet. ".
The mention of Robinhood here is interesting because it seems to attract celebrity-led fund investments. In addition to Nas (and Ashton Kutcher), the exchange platform also received funding in 2014 from the rapper Snoop Dogg and actor Jared Leto, while at the beginning of 2018, it also benefited from Jay ZVenture capital of arrival. And speaking of celebrity overlaps in investments related to cryptography, BitPay was the target of money not only from Ashton Kutcher, but also from the famous investor / author / philanthropist Richard Branson, which participated in a $ 30 million series A round of financing in 2014.
Such incursions in cryptocurrency financing may not be widespread in the celebrity world, but the fact that they are made by celebrities rather than by "ordinary" investors and entrepreneurs should be encouraging. . Indeed, in such cases, the investors concerned are highly public figures who do not put their money into play only when investing in Coinbase, Robinhood or BitPay, but also their reputation. In addition, as CryptoOracle CEO Lou Kerner says, their reputation really helps to increase interest in crypto, especially if the concerned investors are really enthusiastic about crypto-currencies:
"The investment of a celebrity such as Serena Williams often generates a press that is valuable, but it's pretty ephemeral. There are celebrity investors, like Ashton Kutcher, who are really interested in this situation, exploiting their celebrity status to help society and bring real value to it. "
Other industry figures are in agreement with this badessment. Artem Popov, co-founder of blockchain-based investment service Roobee, also says that celebrity investments can stimulate public interest, provided that these investments come from individuals who invest personally in the crypto space. -change:
"Celebrity investments certainly bring some hype and make the start-up in question more attractive to the general public and small investors.If it is well played, the involvement of celebrities can be beneficial, but I think that it should be considered on a case-by-case basis and, for example, in the case of Serena Williams, we are not talking about her direct support for Blockchain or Coinbase. "
Crypto property of celebrities
As Lou Kerner says, celebrities such as Ashton Kutcher and Nas are "the exception rather than the rule" because most celebrities who badociate with cryptography do so more in terms of superficial marketing referrals. And these last years are not lacking: Paris Hilton, Floyd Mayweather, DJ Khaled, Steven Seagal, The game, T.I, Harry Redknapp, Ghostface Killah, Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, Akon, Dennis Rodman and Shahbaz Khan have all praised their names to cryptocurrency projects from one band or another. And what is interesting to note about these mentions is that they all concerned projects that could fail or be outright fraudulent.
In other words, the distinction between celebrity investments and celebrity endorsements is a useful rule. In general, a celebrity will invest their own money in a cryptography-related project because they believe that it offers added value and will succeed as a business proposition. However, their willingness to be paid for their "downline" of a project obviously has no bearing on their belief because they will be paid regardless of its success. It is for this reason that individual investors and traders would benefit from paying more attention to investments than to endorsements.
But even if the number of celebrities who have actually invested in cryptographic projects can probably count on a few hands, there are also a number of celebrities who, rather than become specifically involved in emerging capitalism, have sought to invest in the world. bitcoin, ether or another cryptocurrency for their personal benefit. These include the likes of Twitter CEO Jack Dorseyactor Hugh Laurierappers 50 centimes and Snoop Dogg, singer Mel Bactor Drew Carey, football player Richard Sherman and musician / actor Donald Glover.
Once again, the fact that these people are public figures with thousands or even millions of admirers is largely a good thing for cryptocurrency, as their enthusiasm for crypto is likely to affect their fans. As explained Diego Mourad, CEO of the S4FE decentralized stolen objects database,
"People tend to form opinions and make decisions based on their role models, who are now celebrities and not necessarily politicians, scientists or academics." Celebrities have supporters, sometimes millions of them, so a single celebrity turning to cryptocurrency may be encouraged to consider this topic. "
Crypto must prove itself
It's no wonder that celebrities have been drawn to cryptography – and that cryptography-related projects have attracted it – because not only are celebrities always willing to earn a little more with endorsements, but many also want to maintain their status. "Fashionable" images and brands by partnering with the latest trends and innovations. This is largely the reason why they have publicly declared themselves in favor of cryptocurrencies, and since many of them also have a lot of money and time to lose, it is so not surprising that celebrities have found themselves in a position to become investing in crypto one way or another.
That said, it is possible to suggest that celebrity participation is not as beneficial to the industry as some might think. On the one hand, it is clear that in some cases, the direct purchase of crypto and even the provision of venture capital by celebrities do not allow the industry to develop as effectively as help provided by established investors and entrepreneurs.
"For the basic crypto community, however, the so-called" whaling "investors are more important," Artem Popov said. He continued:
"Being in the crypto and blockchain business for a long time and moving it forward, they bring a lot more value and confidence to a project than just celebrities."
Popov says that pre-sale investments by large bitcoin holders could be more vital to support the launch of the project and to generate community interest than anything most celebrities could have provided. And, although such investments may not attract the general public, it is usually the interest of seasoned investors in cryptography and the community that will contribute to the construction of new projects and products that will eventually win adoption by the general public.
Diego Mourad also explained:
"To become the next step in our financial system, cryptocurrencies must prove their feasibility to the general public, whether celebrities or not, it will be the only factor that governs the growth or decline of this new technology. can help make this a reality, but technology has to prove that it deserves to become the next step in our evolution. "
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