The Crypto and Digital Currency Craze
The cryptocurrency craze has attracted the attention of celebrities all over the world — from Floyd Mayweather to Ashton Kutcher. And the Real Slim Shady hasn’t been left behind. That’s right, rapper Eminem has joined the bandwagon with his latest album, Kamikaze.
Tried not 2 overthink this 1… enjoy. 🖕#KAMIKAZE Out Now – https://t.co/ANw73KbwMt pic.twitter.com/qfQoTYBTUy
— Marshall Mathers (@Eminem) August 31, 2018
A follow-up to his previous album, Revival, Kamikaze contains 13 tracks — one of which, “Not Alike,” makes reference to Bitcoin — one of the largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization. Rapper Royce Da 5’9′ collaborated with Eminem on the track, singing:
‘Member everybody used to bite Nickel
Now everybody doin’ Bitcoin
These lines have provoked the cryptocurrency space — with the majority alleging that Eminem and his collaborator are stepping in to increase the awareness of Bitcoin and other digital currencies. Redditor skadamo80 reacted to the news saying: “If we go to the moon because of a rapper… I’m selling!” Forbes noted that the mention is “a sign that bitcoin is slowly penetrating to different levels of society and out of the financial, fintech bubble it’s existed in for the last 10 years.”
Eminem joins other music personalities like 50 Cent, Bjork, and Snoop Dogg who support crypto. In late 2017, Monero announced 45 musicians and other online stores would be accepting the coin as well as offering discounts to those paying using cryptocurrencies. Snoop Dogg recently performed at an XRP community event during New York Blockchain Week. Ripple even sponsored this event with the objective of spreading awareness of XRP.
In 2017, there was a huge influx of celebrity-endorsed ICOs, tokens and coins. This prompted the U.S. State Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to issue a warning to investors against celebrity endorsements of cryptocurrency activities. As such, investors planning to purchase digital currencies need to exercise due diligence and not merely rely on a celebrity endorsement, as advised by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.
Still, that one line could have a big impact on both the music and crypto charts.
