Celebrities Cash In on Bitcoin and Crypto, Some May Face SEC Action

One of the first places in which the crypto-world is fusing with the real world is through the lens of media and pop culture, with crypto now becoming popular amongst celebrities.

Aside from the significant degree of influence celebrities hold over Twitter and other social media platforms, high-profile endorsements from celebrities also provide retail investors with confidence in potential investments.

One of the most recent celebrity forays into the world of blockchain is the announcement that Snoop Dogg will be featured at an upcoming Ripple VIP gathering.

Other notable celebrities getting on the blockchain train include Katy Perry, who recently posted an Instagram snap depicting her nails painted with the logos of popular high market cap cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and, interestingly, Monero.

Some celebrity cryptocurrency interactions are promotional or benign in nature, but others appear to be genuinely profitable.

While 50 Cent's forward-leaning decision may yielded significant profits, other celebrity endorsements of cryptocurrencies have not ended so well.

Paris Hilton was one of the first celebrities to endorse a cryptocurrency, but the token endorsed - LydianCoin - didn't exactly give the star the kind of attention desired.

Celebrity ICO endorsements could potentially land promoters in more trouble than simple brand damage, as well.

Not every celebrity active in the cryptocurrency ecosystem is flying blind - Ashton Kutcher, for example, is well-known for actively promoting Ethereum in its earliest days and is a key investor in the BitBay cryptocurrency exchange.

While celebrity endorsement has typically been restricted to fraudulent or less-than-attractive initial coin offerings thus far, it doesn't mean that celebrity interest is necessarily bad. As cryptocurrencies become more popular in the mainstream and adoption grows it's likely we'll see many more celebrity faces on blockchain products.