From athletes such as Tristan Thompson to artists such as Iggy Azalea, celebrities have returned to hawking crypto
From athletes such as Tristan Thompson to artists such as Iggy Azalea, celebrities have returned to hawking crypto
In 2025, crypto is back in style in Washington and among a growing set in Hollywood, where Thompson lives adjacent to the Kardashian clan, some of whom have been crypto spokespeople. Donald Trump has reversed Joe Biden’s legal offensive against crypto, debuting his own token, $Trump, before his inauguration, and rolling back government actions against the industry, which heavily supported him during his bid for the presidency. Celebrities have likewise returned to hawking cryptocurrency projects or launching tokens of their own.
Thompson is not the only pro sports figure diving in. Lamar Odom, a former basketball star, launched a crypto coin in May that partially funds addiction recovery, and Mike Tyson, the former boxing legend, is a spokesperson for Naga, a Robinhood-like trading platform that includes cryptocurrency products. Outside sports, Thomspon stands shoulder to shoulder, metaphorically speaking, with figures such as Iggy Azalea, an Australian rapper, who, in addition to her work as the spokesperson for her $MOTHER crypto token, was featured alongside Thompson and Eric Trump as a keynote speaker at the 2025 Blockchain Futurist Conference last month. At the November conference, Azalea was named the creative director of Thrust, a new platform allowing celebrities to issue their own branded meme coins, a subset of cryptocurrencies that are billed as purely speculative and are not enforced as securities. Streaming personality N3on was the first to launch his meme coin on the Thrust platform. Actor Megan Fox will be next.
“A few years ago, most celebrity crypto stuff came off like quick stunts, and now, people expect an actual plan and some kind of real value for communities, not just a splashy moment,” Azalea told the Guardian via text. “Yes, I think celebrities are still curious about the space, but are a lot more careful. No one wants to be linked to something chaotic or sloppy.”
Through limits on how token issuers can sell their own shares, the project claims to mitigate the potential for token collapses and pump-and-dump schemes. The industry may not have entirely reformed, though: Azalea’s $MOTHER meme coin faced allegations of insider trading almost as soon as it launched in May. Azalea has denied dumping $2m worth of tokens and has disclaimed any control over, or knowledge of, the people who owned them.Crypto spring
Celebrities were enamored with crypto schemes at the peak of the market in 2021, when Matt Damon appeared in a Super Bowl ad for a crypto company. But after the fraud-induced collapse of crypto exchange FTX, A-listers faced a wave of lawsuits and penalties, part of a wider regulatory crackdown on cryptocurrency under the former president. Celebrities listed as defendants in crypto-related court cases included Tom Brady, Shohei Ohtani, Steph Curry, Shaquille O’Neal, Naomi Osaka, Cristiano Ronaldo, Floyd Mayweather, and Kim Kardashian – sister to Khloé Kardashian, with whom Tristan Thompson has had a tumultuous relationship and two children. In 2022, Kim Kardashian settled with the SEC for $1.26m over charges in connection with illegally promoting a crypto security, EthereumMax.
The rich and famous backed off promoting digital currency in the ensuing years. The Kardashian case “tamped down on all celebrity involvement” in crypto, according to Dr William Mullins, a professor of finance at UC San Diego studying the effects of celebrity influence on individuals’ crypto investments.
