Scottie Pippen links up with 12.7m-follower streamer Kai Cenat to promote his cryptocurrency business
Chicago Bulls legend Scottie Pippen has continued to promote his new cryptocurrency $BALL despite backlash from social media users in recent weeks. Over the weekend, the six-time NBA champion shared an image on his Instagram story with popular streamer Kai Cenat, who has 12.7 million Twitch followers, while promoting his $BALL cryptocurrency.
The project is named after, and is fueled by, the game ball used in Scottie Pippen and the Chicago Bulls' 1991 NBA championship win. Pippen has apparently held onto the ball for the past 33 years, and is now using the ball as a digital asset.
In addition to a photo shared on Scottie Pippen's Instagram, a video of the two together in Paris was shared on the Bulls legend's account on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Cenat notably didn't mention the cryptocurrency in the video, however, Pippen reposted the clip, along with the same photo from his Instagram story on X along with the caption:
"Real recognizes real, and the world is watching. $BALL is just getting started."
As previously mentioned, the geotag in the second photo shows Pippen and Cenat in Paris, France, where the duo is likely to attend Team USA's gold medal game against France on Saturday.
In addition, you can see the post from Pippen's Instagram story below.
Editor's Note: As Instagram stories automatically delete after 24 hours, they cannot be embedded. Instead, a screenshot of the post has been included.
Looking at Scottie Pippen's $BALL project, and the criticism surrounding the cryptocurrency
Back in late July, Scottie Pippen took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to announce that he would be tokenizing the famous Game 5 ball from the Chicago Bulls' 1991 championship game and putting it on the blockchain.
In a video, he explained that he has held onto the famous ball for 33 years, and is prepared to make history by tokenizing it on the blockchain.
"Hey, everyone, it's Scottie Pippen. I have the game five ball from our first championship win against the Lakers in 1991. Right here. 33 years later, I'm making history again by tokenizing this historic ball on the blockchain. So let's make history together, as you can officially be a part of this legendary moment."
Shortly after the post was made, the internet quickly began to do some digging, with Crypto detective ZachXBT revealing that the "deployer address" associated with the $BALL project was one that had been used in two previous pump-and-dump scams, known in the crypto community as rug pulls.
In addition, as CoinMarketCap.com has indicated, back in 2022 during the NFT bubble, Pippen reportedly was involved in what has been described by the outlet as a quote-unquote "failed rug pull."
Because of that, the crypto community has seemingly been skeptical about the validity and long-term future of Pippen's latest endeavor. From the looks of things, however, it's full steam ahead for the NBA legend.