Iggy Azalea, retired famous rapper who is now a businesswoman in the crypto industry, launches a new protocol to help provide fairness to purchasers of celebrity crypto coins.
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Celebrity cryptocurrency tokens were once hyped as the next frontier of fan engagement and digital fame. Launched widely around 2024, these tokens promised fans not just a chance to show loyalty but to actually share in their idols’ financial upside. Yet, the vast majority crashed and burned, marred by speculative bubbles, pump-and-dumps, and widespread accusations of rug pulls. The hype faded, reputations took hits, and celebrity crypto largely fell out of favor.
But could Iggy Azalea, the globally recognized Australian rapper and cultural icon, reverse the fortunes of the celebrity token market? In 2024, Azalea launched her own celebrity token, MOTHER, on Solana after learning someone else had created an ‘IGGY’ token to cash in on her name. In a digital gaming and casino platform called Motherland, fans use the token for blackjack, poker, and sports betting. With over $25 million invested, the goal was for this celebrity coin to provide actual utility in a gaming and entertainment context —a stark contrast from most celebrity coin launches seen as ‘pump and dump’ schemes.
“I don’t think the world has, with the exception to me, and like I said, maybe one or two other projects seeing what a celebrity token could really be and how it could add value, you know, by bringing pop culture and entertainment into the crypto space, that I think is much needed if we’re going to gain a wider audience,” Azalea said in an interview with me just prior to the Blockchain Futurist conference in Fort Lauderdale. Azalea appeared on a panel called, “Death of the Celebrity Coin”.
Azalea’s journey into the celebrity token market is as much a critique of the status quo as it is a reinvention. The project she is now advising is called ‘Thrust’, a platform for celebrity tokens where the value proposition is for the ability of fans to actually benefit financially through crypto, by simply being fans.
“When you are a fan of an artist, right? You are adding all of this value to them, and you’re propping them up, and in return, you’re getting merely an experience. There is no financial reward to being a fan,” she explained candidly. “People dedicate their lives to being a fan in a way that, for me, has even made me feel a little uncomfortable, like, Oh, my God, this fan is spending their last dollar to get to my concert, and all that I can give them is an emotional experience or a memory.”
That emotional transaction feeds much of celebrity token demand, but it has long lacked the financial legitimacy to sustain value. “Until now, in part, celebrity tokens have traded on that kind of culture and the value of wanting to be part of a community, but largely it’s just speculation and people wanting liquidity within crypto and the value of the celebrity,” Azalea observed.
The rapper sees regulatory changes and evolving market structures allowing a breakthrough: “This is the first time, at least in crypto, where for your celebrity, that you could have a fandom where you’re still getting community experiences, and you’re still getting that emotional value of it that we’ve always had in traditional settings, like being a fan of a musician or an actor, where there’s actual financial reward for you to be a part of a community, and it can sustain you in those ways.”
“We’re stepping away from the bonding curve model,” said Jake Antifaev, a key Thrust founder. “That model didn’t protect anyone from sniping or bonding any of the actual supply—it rewarded first-time buyers, not true believers. We’re going back to the original presale model allowing fair distribution of actual supply.”
Antifaev argues this more democratic rollout can rebuild trust. “The crypto industry is exhausted by buyers and snipers taking advantage of people and extracting value.”
Joining Azalea in this quest is Rangesh Mutama, aka N3on, an American streamer known for his high-energy NBA 2K content across YouTube and TikTok. N3on will be the first celebrity on Thrust’s platform.
“Viewers usually just watch and support, but there’s no way for them to make money,” N3on said. “With what Thrust has, people can get involved, feel part of what we’re doing, and make money together.”
However, not all in crypto necessarily embrace Azalea’s mission or are fans of celebrities being involved in crypto to begin with. When celebrity tokens were booming in 2024, Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, made public statements about his concern of the lack of utility and pure ‘financialization’ plays of celebrity tokens. Azalea reacted swiftly with criticsim of Buterin and the Ethereum platform for its high gas fee as well as creating a controversial and provocative meme. Most of the celebrity coins from 2024 have lost a great deal of value, been accused of pump and dump schemes, so time will tell if Azalea’s mission to provide value via entertainment or fandom can actually materalize as the project promises.
History of Celebrity Coins and SEC Enforcement Actions
Their partnership underlines a new wave of celebrity tokens seeking actual fairness, community, and utility rather than quick hype. However, Azalea, Antifaev, and N3on are certainly not the first to see how their celebrity may benefit others. It started with professional boxer Floyd Mayweather and DJ Khaled, who in 2018 were charged by the SEC with unlawfully touting crypto coins. Just a few years later, another major celebrity faced similar charges over ‘touting’ what the SEC then described as a ‘crypto asset security’.
Kim Kardashian settled with the SEC in 2022 over her endorsement of EthereumMax (EMAX) tokens, where she ultimately settled for $1.26 million and agreed not to promote any crypto tokens for three years.
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In 2022, former SEC Chair Gary Gensler notoriously charged Kim Kardashian for promoting EthereumMax tokens without disclosures, signaling regulators’ intolerance of celebrity crypto scams. Kardashian settled for a $1.26 million fine and agreed not to support any crypto tokens for three years. Still, political and entertainment figures keep dipping toes in the water—none more boldly than former President Trump, who launched a meme coin just prior to his 2025 inauguration – on the same evening that the crypto industry held an inaugural ball in his honor.
The SEC under Trump has definitely leaned in to embrace crypto. The SEC’s Division of Finance issued a staff statement declaring meme coins are generally not securities. With this statement, the concept of a celebrity ‘touting’ a coin would likely not be enforceable at the SEC, as long as the coin itself is not considered a security.
The real question now is whether the market—and fans—are ready to embrace a new era of crypto celebrity tokens or whether the next hype cycle will simply bring a fresh wave of disappointment and regulatory crackdowns.
Disclosure: I have no association with the THRUST project and do not own MOTHER tokens.