Circle Taps DJ Khaled as USDC Ambassador Amid Past Crypto Scandal
Circle, the company behind the $74 billion stablecoin USDC, has sparked controversy with its latest promotional move. The company shared a photo featuring music producer DJ Khaled wearing the new USDC-sponsored Chelsea FC shirt, with CEO Jeremy Allaire welcoming him to “team USDC.”
The partnership raises eyebrows due to Khaled’s past run-ins with regulators. In 2018, he settled with the SEC for failing to disclose payments he received for promoting the fraudulent Centra Tech ICO, which scammed investors out of $25 million. Khaled reportedly received $50,000 for promoting the scheme on social media, encouraging his followers to invest without disclosing his compensation.
Circle’s choice of Khaled as a USDC ambassador comes amid other missteps by the company. The recent launch of its corporate-focused blockchain, Arc, was marred by a team member promoting a memecoin based on Allaire’s dog, DUKE, which has since lost 96% of its value. Additionally, Circle has faced criticism for its slow response to crypto hacks, including a $3 million SwapNet breach where stolen USDC sat unfrozen for hours.
Despite these issues, Circle has shown occasional proactive measures, such as blacklisting an address holding nearly 100,000 USDC following the $350 million Bitget hack, beating rival Tether by seven hours. However, critics like on-chain investigator ZachXBT claim to have identified $420 million in compliance failures across 15 incidents involving USDC.