John Cena posted a stock image of casascius bitcoins on Instagram today and generated plenty of buzz in the process. Cena is a professional wrestler, reality star, and entertainer. His following is large and his reach is long. The post had over 38,000 likes, with no further input from John Cena himself, at time of writing.
It’s clear that Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies generally are increasingly gaining the interest of people who really can benefit from the protective nature that cryptography affords. The more money one has, after all, the more exposed to the failures of governments and fiat currencies that one becomes. In a similar vein, Floyd Mayweather, who came out of retirement and defeated MMA fighter Conor McGregor recently, is also jumping aboard cryptocurrencies, while Mark Cuban is finally giving Bitcoin and ICOs a chance.
Other stars like Mike Tyson have in the past promoted Bitcoin companies, while one of the first blockchain investors, Brock Pierce, got his start in life as an actor. 50 Cent sold an album in bitcoins; if he made significant sales and held any of the coin, he’s probably not broke anymore. His friend the Game is promoting Paragon. The cohesion of the entertainment industry and cryptocurrencies becomes more evident in projects like Backto.earth, which wants to use the blockchain as part of its mission to create a revolutionary new form of entertainment.
Cena himself, it’s safe to say, has previously been quiet on the subject of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. His celebrity power is such that he merely needs to post a photo with no additional information for it to spark a discussion of several hundred comments.
One hopes he understands the difference between Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin, for instance, or that he’s not buying at the highs and might later be confused if a price dive ensues. Or was the post meant as a mysterious precursor to later information he intends to release, regarding his newfound wealth from an investment years back?
Working in the cryptosphere, it’s easy to forget that the whole of it is absolutely new to the overwhelming majority of people. Information penetration far outweighs actual diffusion of holdings, as well. This is to say that John Cena and all the rest of the celebrities who’ve in recent years awoken tot he power of cryptocurrencies may be among the fortunate first, but in the grand scheme of things, we’ve only just begun.