Baron Davis believes celebrities will support crypto projects with utility amid SEC crackdown

Updated: 03 March 2023

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Baron Davis, a former National Basketball Association (NBA) player, has said that celebrities will be attracted to projects that offer real utility and rewards. Davis’ sentiments come as US regulators, including the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), crack down on celebrity endorsements in the crypto industry.

Former NBA player says celebrities will be attracted to crypto tokens

While speaking in an interview with CoinDesk, Davis said celebrities were now shifting their attention to crypto projects that could provide users with rewards and real utility. He further said that celebrities and athletes would associate themselves with more creative projects in the coming days. Davis said,

Going forward, you’re gonna see more creative projects out of celebrities and athletes bringing you directly to their fanbase, to their ecosystem.

Davis’ interview comes when he is working on a blockchain project. The entrepreneur who spent 13 years playing for different teams in the NBA uses blockchain to create a non-fungible token (NFT) project called SLiC Images. This project aims to manage databases and digital copyrights for sports photographers.

Davis’ NFT project is still developing and being created on the Mintbase NFT platform. According to Davis, blockchain technology would enable the platform to create a core database while publishing a back end where the photographers can license photos on magazines and social media platforms.

Regulators crack down on celebrity crypto endorsements

US regulators have been cracking down on celebrity endorsements in the cryptocurrency industry. In October last year, reality TV star Kim Kardashian agreed to a $1.26 million settlement with the SEC over charges of failing to disclose payments received after promoting the EthereumMax (EMAX) token.

Kim Kardashian was fined $1.26 million by the SEC for touting a crypto security.

The SEC fined Kardashian over an Instagram post she made in 2021 about what’s called EMAX tokens, without disclosing her payment of $250,000 from the issuer, EthereumMax.https://t.co/Zrv1YjBsAO

— MarketWatch (@MarketWatch) October 3, 2022

Paul Pierce, a former player at Boston Celtics, also agreed to pay a $1.4 million fine for promoting the EMAX project without disclosing that he was paid to promote the project. At the time, the SEC Chair, Gary Gensler, said that the fine imposed against the two celebrities demonstrated that the law mandated that they disclose the payment they receive to promote investment securities.

The bankruptcy of the FTX exchange has also put the limelight on the celebrities who endorsed the exchange. Several celebrities, such as Kevin O’Leary and Tom Brady, face a class-action lawsuit for promoting the exchange. The lawsuit says that the celebrities were misleading in promoting the exchange with over $8.9 billion missing customer funds.

JUST IN: FTX confirms $8.9 billion in customer funds are missing.

— Watcher.Guru (@WatcherGuru) March 2, 2023

The collapse of FTX has also seen some investment firms being sued for promoting the exchange without conducting due diligence. Several company investors have sued investment firms such as Sequoia Capital, Thoma Bravo, and Paradigm for marketing FTX.

Before the negative events that happened in the crypt market last year, including the demise of several crypto firms and the intense bear market that caused massive losses, celebrity endorsements were popular. However, these endorsements have since died down because of the growing regulatory scrutiny.

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