Our guide to those who fell for crypto and the one who didn’t. Spoiler alert: It’s Taylor Swift. Of course.

The initial appeal of cryptocurrencies was fairly obvious. The digital currencies heralded a new era of economic activity that didn’t require stodgy banks or heavy regulations and represented a democratisation of access to money in a way that was not possible before. 

Investing in cryptocurrency was also a way to earn high returns while supporting what crypto believers saw as the future of technology. 

And then all those celebrities jumped on the crypto bandwagon. The cryptocurrency world grew and even more people were encouraged to invest in digital currencies, many of whom were not fully aware that – despite the hype and short term highs – they were entering a highly volatile, loosely regulated world that was prone to money laundering, scams and corruption. 

The stunning collapse of crypto exchange FTX, and other smaller crypto currencies, opened up many eyes to the capricious, unreliable and unstable side of crypto. And with so much money lost, a lot of people, including regulators, are taking a hard look at the celebrities who were heavily promoting a variety of digital currencies. What was behind their hype? Did they believe what they were hawking? 

When crypto’s prices were shooting up, no one bothered asking those questions. But now, in the cold, hard wake of the fall of so many digital currencies and billions of dollars being lost, the question of celebrity manipulation and fraud is being seriously considered. We take a look here at some of those celebrities as well as the one – we’re looking at you Taylor Swift – who chose to walk away from crypto. Who really knows why each of them did what they did but, as celebrities in the public eye, their actions have consequences and exploring those actions helps to understand their full impact – and, maybe, help protect a more discerning public from falling prey to the next “big thing” and possibly becoming victims of financial crime.