Top 5 Celebrities Investing in, Using and Talking about Bitcoin!
1. Ashton Kutcher
Actor Ashton Kutcher is the co-founder of venture fund A-Grade Investments, who have invested in BitPay, the payment processor that allows merchants to accept bitcoin payments. Speaking at the TechCrunch Disrupt NY conference last year, he said: "The bigger thing with bitcoin is: what can that decentralised technology really do? Imagine if we can decentralise that issue, and if we can decentralized security.
Kutcher has been successful as a venture capitalist on the tech space following an offer by Anderseen, with whom she has since become close, in 2099 to invest in Skype. He has also invested Spotify, Airnumb, Foursquare.
2. Snoop Dogg
In a tweet last December, rapper and singer-songwriter Snoop Dogg teased that his next album would be "available in bitcoin" and "delivered in a drone". Although the tweet was facetious, he responded more seriously to BitPay and Coinbase when they reached out to him offering their services.
Snoop Dogg's representatives later said in an interview that he was not serious about accepting bitcoin, but the news brought waves of attention to the digital currency by the general public.
3. Akon
Bitcoin "is going to change the world from a money transactional standpoint not just for Africa, but for everywhere", said recording artist and producer Akon at the Milken Global Conference this Wednesday (30th April).
His declaration is the latest of celebrity endorsements helping the technology and digital currency gain trust among the general public.
4. Nas
Rapper and songwriter Nas, along with his manager Aymen Anthony Saleh, are investors in more that 40 startup companies including digital wallet company coinbase and 500 startups, the Silicon Valley incubator accelerating bitcoin companies. And they're just getting started.
Last year, Coinbase raised $25 million in Series B funding led by Andreessen Horowitz thanks to whom Nas and Saleh learned how to approach and assess their potential investment opportunities. The firm's partner Ben Horowitz is close with them, according to Saleh.
5. Mel B
Last Christmas former Spice Girl and X Factor judge Mel B partnered with London-based CloudHashing to become the first musical artist to accept bitcoin to purchase her music.
"I love how new technology makes our lives easier, and to me, that's exciting," she said. "Bitcoin unites my fans around the world using one currency. They can just pay using bitcoins." CouldHashing offers bitcoin-mining-as-a-service.
The company had a booth at the Austin music and technology conference SXSW this year to showcase their service to industry icons and enthusiasts still new to bitcoin.
Source: coindesk.com
