On June 12, a seemingly ordinary celebrity settlement marked a symbolic end to a frenzied era in the cryptocurrency industry. According to CNBC, NBA legend Shaquille O'Neal has agreed to pay $1.8 million to settle a class-action lawsuit stemming from his promotion of the now-bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX.

This payment is not only the cost O'Neal incurs for his role as a "paid spokesperson," but also a clear signal: the era of "borrowed credibility," which thrived on celebrity endorsements and the backing of sports giants, is coming to an end with legal accountability.

The Collapse of "Borrowed Credibility": The Legacy and Lessons of the FTX Model

To understand the far-reaching impact of the O'Neal case, one must return to the marketing model led by FTX. During the bull market cycle of 2021-2022, cryptocurrency exchanges led by FTX faced a core dilemma: how to quickly gain public trust without the backing of traditional financial regulation? Their solution was borrowed credibility.

By collaborating with household sports icons like Tom Brady, Stephen Curry, and O'Neal, FTX cleverly transplanted the decades of personal credibility these stars had built in their fields onto its own brand. When O'Neal claimed in an advertisement, "I have an open mind about cryptocurrency, but working with FTX made it easy for me to get started," he conveyed not just product information, but an implicit endorsement of trust. For millions of ordinary consumers, what they believed in was not the complex blockchain technology or the risk disclosures of the exchange, but the familiar figure of "Big Shaq," who represented success and reliability.

The power of this model was immense. It successfully packaged a complex, high-risk financial platform into a consumer product as easily accepted as sports drinks or fast food, achieving exponential user growth. However, the inherent risks were also fatal. When FTX collapsed, its borrowed credibility went bankrupt as well. The original spokesperson, once a source of credibility, instantly became a defendant in a legal lawsuit.

The core of the plaintiffs' accusations against O'Neal was that he helped promote FTX's yield products, which the plaintiffs considered to be "unregistered securities." O'Neal's defense of "I was just a paid spokesperson" appeared weak in the face of the court and public opinion. When the promoted items are financial products directly related to ordinary people's wealth, the line between "endorsement" and "investment advice" begins to blur. The settlement, regardless of the amount, draws a clear red line for future celebrity endorsements: promoting financial products means assuming responsibilities and risks that go beyond those of ordinary product endorsements.

Paradigm Shift: From Personal Endorsement to Brand Association, the Survival Path of OKX and Gate.io

The collapse of FTX did not end the cryptocurrency industry's enthusiasm for sports marketing, but it profoundly changed the rules of the game. Survivors in the post-FTX era, such as OKX and Gate.io, are practicing a more mature and cautious new marketing paradigm: shifting from personal credibility endorsement to strategic brand association.

Observing the collaborations between OKX and the McLaren F1 team, as well as the Premier League champions Manchester City, or Gate.io sponsoring the Serie A giants Inter Milan and the F1 Red Bull team, we can see the essential differences from the FTX model:

Differences in depth and form of collaboration: OKX's logo appears prominently on McLaren cars, and Manchester City players' training kits also bear its logo. This is a form of brand exposure and association. OKX does not require Norris or Haaland to look at the camera and say, "I trade on OKX, you should try it too." What it seeks is to bind the OKX brand with concepts like speed, precision, top-level competition, and global influence. What the audience sees is a powerful company capable of sponsoring top events, rather than a startup needing a star athlete to vouch for its credibility.

The wisdom of risk isolation: This brand association model is legally safer. The McLaren team or Manchester City club does not directly "promote" OKX's financial products. Their relationship with OKX is that of sponsor and sponsee, rather than investment advisor and client. This largely isolates legal liabilities arising from potential risks of the platform. When users choose to use OKX because they see the logo on a race car, their decision is more based on brand recognition rather than blind trust in a specific individual.

From "Who am I?" to "Who do I associate with?": The marketing logic of FTX was "Trust me (O'Neal), so trust FTX." The logic of OKX and others is "We associate with the top teams (McLaren/Manchester City), so we are also top-tier." This represents a shift from relying on individual credibility to building corporate-level credibility. The message conveyed is no longer "We are easy to use," but rather "We are strong, legitimate, and globally influential."

Future Challenges: Compliance, Due Diligence, and the Real Cost of Endorsements

O'Neal's settlement serves as a wake-up call for all celebrities, athletes, and their management teams eager to enter the cryptocurrency space. In the future, any endorsement contract involving cryptocurrency products will face unprecedented scrutiny.

• The necessity of due diligence: Celebrities and their teams must conduct thorough, independent due diligence on the platforms they endorse, covering not only the company's financial status but also its compliance structure, risk control, and whether products could be deemed securities, among other legal sensitivities.

• The evolution of contract terms: Future endorsement contracts will feature exceptionally complex and stringent clauses regarding liability, indemnification, and insurance. Celebrities will demand comprehensive protection from the platform for any reputational and financial losses arising from regulatory issues or platform failures.

• The ethical dilemma of "real use": Regulators and the public are increasingly inclined to require endorsers to "actually use and believe in" the products they promote. For complex financial derivative platforms, requiring sports stars to truly understand and frequently use them is a significant challenge. This may lead future celebrities to prefer endorsing technical layers (like public chains) or simpler applications (like wallets), rather than directly promoting high-risk exchanges.

In Conclusion

Shaquille O'Neal's $1.8 million not only bought a settlement agreement but also served as an expensive lesson for the entire cryptocurrency marketing industry. It marks the end of the rough-and-tumble era that relied on personal charisma for credibility arbitrage and opens a new phase of brand building that is more mature, yet also more "traditional."

In the post-FTX era, cryptocurrency companies will have to build their credibility slowly and solidly, just like all traditional blue-chip companies, through long-term technological development, transparent operations, and strategic brand partnerships. For those celebrities in the spotlight, when cryptocurrency companies present hefty checks, their first question may no longer be "What is the compensation?" but rather "Am I ready to stake my own name on the future of this brand?"

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