Circle’s official USDC account posted DJ Khaled wearing a Chelsea FC jersey with the stablecoin’s branding on October 5, 2026, sparking backlash due to his history of undisclosed promotion of the Centra Tech ICO for 50,000 dollars in 2017. The rapper subsequently settled with the SEC for a total of 152,725 dollars, although he was not charged with fraud unlike the founders of Centra Tech. Circle’s post, which simply combined its existing partnership with Chelsea and a separate promotional activation via Roc Nation involving Khaled, does not indicate a new paid contract or official role between the rapper and the stablecoin issuer. Despite these clarifications, members of the crypto community leveraged this visual association to revive controversy over Khaled’s prior SEC settlement.
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