Mr. Wonderful has signed a multi-year deal to serve as a brand
ambassador and spokesperson for FTX and will be paid in crypto assets
and take an equity stake in FTX.
Shark Tank host Kevin O’Leary has become an official spokesman for
Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX crypto exchange and will be paid in crypto and
receive equity as part of the deal.
According to an Aug.10 announcement, the partnership
with FTX Trading Ltd. and West Realm Shires Services Inc. (owners of
FTX.US and FTX.com) will see O’Leary take an equity stake in both firms.
The
venture capitalist also known colloquially as “Mr. Wonderful” signed
the multi-year deal to serve as a brand ambassador and spokesperson. He
asked to be paid in crypto assets to increase his holdings.
In the announcement, O’Leary noted that “institutional investors
struggle with the decision to invest in crypto assets” as they harbor
compliance-related concerns as he did regarding crypto:
“I
am no different. I want to increase my crypto exposure but also serve
my compliance mandates. When it comes to rapidly changing compliance and
tax reporting requirements, the current cryptocurrency ecosystem is
fraught with risks that I can not take.”
He added that,
“To find crypto investment opportunities that met my own rigorous
standards of compliance, I entered into this relationship with FTX.”
Regulatory compliance in crypto has been a long-standing issue of the investor, and he previously stated back in 2019 that:
“I have no interest in doing any of this crypto crap because it is not compliant.”
Related: Regulatory clarity for crypto would take 3 to 5 years, FTX CEO says
O’Leary
has been tasked with elevating the brand to large audiences and has
already got to work on social media by promoting a FTX CryptoPunk NFT
giveaway on Twitter. However, he unfortunately misspelled a word in the
caption of his post which reads “what to win a CryptoPunk? Here’s your
chance!”
The venture capitalist has a knack for coming up with colorful nicknames
for crypto, and in January he referred to Bitcoin (BTC) as a “giant
nothing-burger” due to its inconsistent regulatory frameworks across the
globe. He has also described BTC mined in non-environmentally friendly ways as “Blood Coin.”
He changed his tune on Bitcoin and revealed plans to allocate 3% of his investment portfolio to BTC in March.This week he called Ethereum "ultrasound money' in a Cameo video.
sorce link : https://cointelegraph.com/news/shark-tank-s-kevin-o-leary-becomes-ftx-spokesperson-will-be-paid-in-crypto
