Tennis star Caroline Wozniacki has been named as the global ambassador of ‘Lympo’, a Blockchain -based app that incentivizes exercise and good health practices with LYM tokens. Wozniacki was recently named by Forbes as the most influential female athlete in the world.
"Sport is my life and what motivates me every morning when I wake up to work hard and be the best I can be. I believe in Lympo's goal to encourage people to exercise and be healthy,” said Wozniacki, in rather typical PR fashion.
Lympo does seem to present an interesting premise. The app syncs up with fitness data collected through smart devices, rewarding users who meet their fitness goals with tokens.
Major news! ?? As of today, Lympo’s official partner is Caroline Wozniacki @CaroWozniacki – world’s top tennis player with millions of sports fans and followers! Welcome aboard, Caroline. ? https://t.co/e3fHayTvjH#fitness #wellness #health #healthtech #tennis #Lympo #LYM pic.twitter.com/2yMonFlHA2
— Lympo.io (@Lympo_io) April 18, 2018
However, in the era of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, the app will need to make very clear how users can be assured that their data isn’t being secretly sold or otherwise exploited.
Several Botched Celebrity Endorsements of Blockchain Projects--Can This One Be Different?
Wozniacki’s endorsement of Lympo comes at a rather interesting time in the saga of celebrity-endorsed blockchain products. Several of these projects have recently faced legal troubles, including Bitcoiin, a Startup whose ICO was backed by action star Steven Seagal.
Earlier this month, the US SEC charged the founders of Centra Tech Inc. with securities fraud; the Centra ICO was promoted by boxing superstar Floyd Mayweather and producer DJ Khaled.
Defendants in the Centra case (Sohrab Sharma and Robert Farkas) “relied heavily on celebrity endorsements and social media to market their scheme,” according to Steve Peikin, co-director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement.
Former SEC prosecutor and partner at Capital Fund Law said that the lesson for celebrities is to “know what [they’re] endorsing.”
Lympo’s ICO has already concluded, raising roughly $8.3 million (according to ICO Bench.)Therefore, it seems unlikely that Wozniacki could be mixed up into any sort of legal troubles regarding securities fraud. Perhaps Wozniacki’s endorsement could present an example of “the right way” for the spheres of celebrity and blockchain to intersect with one another. However, the future is yet unwritten.
