Patrick Mahomes Can’t Quit Crypto

Patrick Mahomes likes doubling down. In February, the 27-year-old Kansas Metropolis Chiefs quarterback famously pushed by way of an ankle harm and a large halftime deficit to clinch his second Tremendous Bowl victory in six seasons. Regardless of his immense potential worth as a free agent, Mahomes has pledged himself to the Chiefs for the following decade; his present $503 million contract is the largest in NFL historical past.

And with crypto, too, the two-time Tremendous Bowl MVP seems to embrace dedication: Whereas different sports activities superstars have shied away from associating with the more and more PR-toxic sector, Mahomes is discovering new methods to dive additional in. 

Mahomes introduced a collaboration with Azuki this week, and within the phrases of 1 NFT holder, he has been “Azuki-fied”—which means his likeness has been transformed right into a restricted version buying and selling card from the anime-styled NFT model.

The one-of-one card will characteristic in a collection of NFTs issued by Azuki in collaboration with Museum of Mahomes, a brand new NFT platform from the star quarterback that’s purportedly set to launch a whopping 15,000 NFTs subsequent month.

The partnership between Mahomes and Azuki comes at a curious time for each events. Mahomes is using the crest of a near-unprecedented wave of mainstream success and adoration; Azuki, in the meantime, is trying to maneuver previous a disastrous summer season that noticed the model’s credibility inside the crypto group threatened by a collection of unforced errors. Within the final two months alone, Azuki’s ground value has plummeted over 79%, per CoinGecko.

And but, Mahomes is right here for the trip. This isn’t the celebrity athlete’s first crypto rodeo: the quarterback netted $3.7 million on the top of the early 2021 NFT craze together with his personal collection of digital collectibles.

He beforehand endorsed crypto tasks like VirtualStax, an NFT buying and selling card model that allegedly claimed it might generate $97 billion in income inside three years regardless of having by no means launched any merchandise; the corporate has since been accused of fraud and deceptive buyers.

Within the wake of the extremely seen and spectacularly weird collapse of FTX final November, a slew of lawsuits have focused celebrities {and professional} athletes who promoted the crypto alternate and different allegedly fraudulent crypto companies.

Stars together with Tom Brady, Steph Curry, Shaq, and Larry David are at present ensnared in litigation they can’t appear to shake; suffice to say, mega-celebrities have all however deserted tasks that prominently characteristic crypto or crypto-affiliated components.

However not Mahomes. Regardless of the potential dangers to his mammoth reserves of social and monetary capital, the star athlete is plunging ever-further into the on-chain depths. Say what you’ll in regards to the advisability of such a transfer—however you possibly can’t deny the person’s grindset.