Thanks mainly to the NFT craze of 2021, the open crypto community has attracted several A-list celebrities in recent years. Despite the lengthy bear market and the apparent drop in crypto prices, celebrities are still a significant source of encouragement for the crypto industry.

Celebrities Active in Crypto

Stars have been branching out into trading, gaming, and other investment sub-ecosystems besides NFTs over the past year. This article surveys several of the most prominent celebrities who have invested in cryptocurrency over the previous year, intending to gauge how involved they are. Celebrities in crypto will help drive the space forward through exposure and increased demand, and can only be bullish for the industry.

Snoop Dogg

Given his extensive, forward-thinking participation in cryptocurrency, Snoop Dogg deserves his reputation as an OG. After first contacting the cryptocurrency ecosystem, Snoop Dogg warned against scammers selling counterfeit tokens and NFTs with his name.

After educating himself on the topic, the rapper partnered with various crypto initiatives, such as cryptocurrency exchanges, Web3, Games, and NFTs, to help push the technology into the mainstream. 

Snoop Dogg has admitted to creating an anonymous twitter account to interact with the NFT community (@cozomomedici) and has even purchased Death Row Records and turned it into an NFT label. Snoop has explored the metaverse by purchasing land and has an extensive art collection in NFTs.

Paris Hilton

With the help of renowned digital artist Blake Kathryn, Paris Hilton released her debut NFT release on Nifty Gateway on April 17. 2021. The 3D dreamscapes created by Kathryn have been praised for their ability to “transport viewers to another universe – one among rich palettes, glossy android applications, and a neon-hued parallel reality.” 

Despite this, she promotes other NFT artists more than she does her drop, using her 16.5 million Twitter followers to bring attention to up-and-coming NFT acts. Hilton seems to have a genuine desire to grow the industry.

Steve Aoki

DJ Steve Aoki has claimed that the money he made last year from selling NFTs far outweighs the royalties he receives from his songs.

Decrypt first reported that the artist, among the world’s highest-paid DJs, discussed his entry into NFTs during an exclusive Gala Music concert on February 10 in California. It stated that DJing is his primary source of income, whereas revenues from his records don’t “amount to a significant amount.

Aoki has built an entire metaverse and is truly fascinated by the technology and ethos of the Web3 space. His NFTs included access to his metaverse, merch, concert tickets and much more. Steve Aoki is another celebrity who is truly interested in building within the digital asset ecosystem.

Elon Musk

In the past, Elon Musk’s tweets have influenced the value of various digital currencies. This has very public been surrounding DOGE as Musk believes it would be humorous if a cryptocurrency created as a joke, became the successful one. 

Cryptocurrency pioneers have been pressuring Musk to apply “decentralized ideas” to Twitter since April, when news of his $44 billion purchase of the social media company surfaced. According to Musk’s tweets from April 25, the social media platform desperately needs innovative features, expansive algorithms, authorized humans, and a stop to spambots.

Elon did purchase BTC through Tesla but later sold the position explaining he felt he could not invest while building earth-friendly vehicles due to the enviornmental concerns surrounding mining. He has maintained involvement with both Bitcoin and Dogecoin developers, staying active and discussing their respective networks and green energy.

Logan Paul

The popular YouTuber joined the crypto craze last summer when prices were rising for most assets, like many other people. He spent almost $2.5 million on NFT artwork several months after everyone else started buying into the trend. The Azuki collection piece he bought for $623,000 was his crowning acquisition.

However, the YouTuber has suffered major losses, at least on paper, because of the unstable state of the cryptocurrency business and the NFT sector. Paul has lately come clean about the Azuki NFT’s current trade price of $10, which has caused a stir in the crypto world.

Beyond the Youtube stars gambling/investing strategy, he was also one of the first to release his own project. He has not seemed to act in the best interest of the space and seems to be slightly more concerned with making money.

Gary Vee

Gary Vaynerchuk’s VeeFriends collection has earned more than $500 million in total sales, making it one of the most successful toy lines of all time. Having reached this point, it is reasonable to conclude that Gary Vee’s novel approach to utility NFTs have taken the NFT world by storm.

GaryVee’s collection was born from his desire to give his entrepreneurial and artistic interests a home. Tokens kept by GaryVee (1,252) and those sold publicly (9,013) make up Series 1. There are 651 characters and 55,565 tokens in the newly released VeeFriends Series 2 collection. There are 16 new characters, and 231 return from the first series.

Gary dropped the first celebrity project very quickly after Bored Ape Yacht Club sold out. BAYC was the very first utility-based project with VeeFriends quick to follow. Gary Vee seems to be in NFTs for the long haul, genuinely engaging with his community and the broader NFT space.

Jack Dorsey

For his part, Jack Dorsey, formerly of Twitter and now as Chairman of Block, has made no secret of his enthusiasm for Bitcoin and his desire to see it replace traditional fiat currencies as the web’s default currency. 

Dorsey claims Bitcoin is the most significant project he’s ever worked on because of its potential to change the world. To support BTC software advancement in Africa and India, Jack Dorsey and Jay-Z released 500 BTC from a new endowment named “B-trust” in 2021. Jack has a strong love for Bitcoin, although that does not spread to the rest of the cryptocurrency industry.

Tom Brady

Though Tom Brady’s pioneering involvement with Autograph is perhaps the most notable, he has many other crypto responsibilities. Since the summer of 2021, Brady and his superstar wife, Gisele Bündchen, have teamed up with FTX, a famous cryptocurrency exchange.

On June 29, 2021, Tom Brady addressed the topic “Why would Tom Brady keep talking about crypto?” head-on in a Twitter Spaces discussion with members of the FTX team and the industry. He has been vocal about the space and has offered to giveaway one Bitcoin to a fan before. 

It is difficult to decide wether the interest is genuine due to how quiet Brady’s personal life has always been. Autograph may have been more about the money, but after the FTX partnership he seemed to be a much more vocal supporter.

The Chainsmokers

The Chainsmokers introduced the blockchain through their company YellowHeart, which they formed to provide technology to eliminate ticket scalpers. Taggart claims that they recognized an opening with Mantis VC to facilitate the spread of blockchain technology to other sectors through financial backing, introductions, and expertise. He said that before this venture, the firm had invested in 20 other businesses.

The Chainsmokers have also released songs through Royal, a platform that allows fans to buy and own songs. They do actively invest and seem to be genuinely into the space.

Seth Green

Green has worked hard on a new White Horse Tavern program that will star a slew of NFT characters. However, Green’s Bored Ape Yacht, originally called Fred Simian, is the show’s focal point. Buzzfeed News’ Sarah Emerson stated that Seth Green might not legally be able to use the Bored Ape NFT in the animated movie he had planned for it.

Green’s Ape was actually stolen, although he paid full price to get it back, after completing much of the storyline. Celebrities genuinely building products like Seth Green’s movie see a real value and strength in the longevity of this industry.

Eminem

A celebrity like Marshall Mathers (aka Eminem) rarely gets publicity for participating in NFTs instead of liquidating personal possessions. The fifteen-time Grammy winner dropped $460,000 on the EminApe NFT from Bored Ape Yacht Club, which depicts the gold necklace and army headgear that the rapper wears in real life. 

When asked about Bitcoin (BTC) in 2018, Eminem became instantly associated with the cryptocurrency. In any case, the NFT purchase cemented his involvement in the cryptocurrency market.

In June of 2022, Eminem dropped a music video about BAYC NFTs that included Snoop Dogg, another rap legend and crypto enthusiast. The live music video was apart of the two rappers VMA performance, with live animation being done using their two Bored Apes.

3LAU

Justin Blau, better known for his stage name 3LAU, founded Royal.io. Royal allows artists to sell royalties and streaming rights to songs, getting fans more involved. An opportunity to own a piece of one of your favoirte songs sounds almost too good, but big names including Nas, the Chainsmokers and Diplo have all used the service. 

A platform that will make it easier for other artists to get involved in the Web3 space and allow eager fans to become further involved in the music is exactly what the industry needed. Coming from a respected artist makes it even better and hopefully the music industry will be one of the first to fully adopt blockchain technology. 

Celebrities In Crypto: Quietly Investing or Participating

These are celebrities who invest or work alongside cryptocurrency-based companies. These celebrities are in a different category because they are either not as vocal or not as publicly involved as some of the aforementioned celebrities. The following people have all invested money or time into the blockchain space. Most have purchased NFTs, while others have partnered with blockchain services or products and others have even taken their salary in Bitcoin.

Kevin O’Leary	Mark Cuban	Jason Derulo	Matt Damon
Justin Beiber	Serena Williams	Shaq	Marshmello
Madonna	Jimmy Fallon	DJ Khaled	Johnny Knoxville
Jay-Z	Post Malone	Aaron Rodgers	Rich the Kid
Jordan Belfort	Ben Simmons	Steph Curry	Meek Mill
Dez Bryant	Diplo	Future	Sean ‘O’Malley
Cheech & Chong	Neymar Jr	David Ortiz	Floyd Mayweather
Von Miller	Lil Baby	Drake Bell	Nas
Odell Beckham Jr	Kevin Hart	Ray Dalio	Cathie Wood

Celebrities are participating in this trend by paying exorbitant prices for prime locations on the third-generation web. Their increased contribution implies that Web3 and crypto are ventures everyone can use and try out. Celebrities in crypto will help the industry become mainstream much more quickly.

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