Celebs Promoting Crypto Under SEC’s Scanner. Here are 5 Potential Big Names.
Cryptocurrencies have been a lucrative business for celebrities getting deep into the business. Several have their own NFT collections. However, SEC recently charged many popular celebrities like Lindsay Lohan, Jake Paul, Akon, and others for promoting crypto projects associated with the popular cryptocurrency Tron.
Here are a few more celebrities who own or have openly supported crypto projects. Some of them have not disclosed information regarding any promotional payments or fees.
SEC Charges Celebs for Promoting Justin Sun's Companies
On Wednesday, March 22, 2023, the SEC leveled charges against actress Lindsay Lohan, boxer Jake Paul, Soulja Boy, and singer Akon for promoting a project allegedly involved in fraud. They allegedly promoted a few projects without disclosing that they were paid for doing so.
This investigation comes from the SEC's fraud allegations on Justin Sun's Tron Foundation Limited, BitTorrent Foundation Ltd., and Rainberry Inc. All the celebrities who were involved in promoting these businesses are under the SEC scanner.
Most cases are under income tax issues where income from crypto promotions has not been properly documented. Further, many celebrities are promoting products like they actually use them without disclosing that they were promoting it for a fee.
5 Other Popular Celebs Promoting Web3 Projects
Several celebrities and media personalities have been associated with cryptocurrency projects while promoting them directly or indirectly. If the investigations continue, we might soon see one or more of them being investigated by the SEC.
The SEC is trying to ensure transparency because in the past several projects were known to have used FOMO or the Fear of Missing Out to drive customers to buy their product.
Gwyneth Paltrow
She and fellow actress Mila Kunis invited 5000 people to join the crypto world through a Zoom call. She said, "We have watched a lot of these bros get together and earn a lot of money," demanding women to join the crypto space. In her latest tweet, she has promoted the World of Women NFT collection.
Here is a link to the two-hour event.
Paris Hilton
Paris Hilton has her own NFT collections, which she regularly auctions online. She has also promoted the virtual world Sandbox in which she could hold meetings. The announcement was also mentioned on Sandbox's website on August 9, 2022.
Lionel Messi
Messi had become the brand ambassador of Sirin Labs, a company that was creating crypto smartphones. The company now appears defunct, with the last post on its website being more than 4 years ago.
Madonna
Madonna, Paris Hilton, and Justin Bieber were involved in allegations that they promoted Yuga Lab's Bored Ape NFTs in a misleading way. The case was filed by John T. Jasnoch in the USA in November 2022. The case involved two persons who suffered financial losses because they relied on the promotions of NFTs by these celebrities.
Johnny Depp
The famous actor of Pirates of The Caribbean fame signed a deal with TaTaTu long back in 2018. Tatatu tweeted to share this information on their Twitter.
The Future
Promoting crypto or NFT projects does not appear to be an issue with the SEC, but projects involving fraud charges are a major concern. However, in an environment where major cryptocurrency sales like Ripple and Tron are termed as fraud, there is an increasing level of uncertainty regarding what the law regards as a crime and what it does not.
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