Circle taps DJ Khaled for "team USDC" and Crypto Twitter serves up a receipt

Circle, issuer of the USDC stablecoin ($USDC), drew the ire of Crypto Twitter on Monday after the rapper DJ Khaled was featured wearing a Chelsea jersey emblazoned with "USDC by Circle," with the official USDC account posting "Another one," a nod to Khaled's signature catchphrase. Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire later amplified the post, writing on X: "@djkhaled welcome to team @USDC."

Neither post references a sponsorship, an ambassador agreement, or any compensation. Circle is the official front-of-shirt sponsor of Chelsea Football Club, where DJ Khaled first appeared through a May 2025 promotional event with Roc Nation, the club announced in May. That background did not stop commentators on X from criticizing the post.

The backlash centers on DJ Khaled's prominence in the fraudulent Centra ICO that prosecutors described in a 2018 indictment, including the rapper. Carter DJ Khaled was among the promoters of the Centra token, and later paid over $150,000 in fines to the Securities and Exchange Commission for not disclosing it was a paid deal.

"Please don't work with scammers like this," Joseph Schiarizzi wrote on X. "You really want people who have paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines to the SEC for illegally not disclosing payments they received for promoting ICOs representing your brand?"

Pseudonymous account Wazz Crypto was sarcastic, suggesting Circle sponsor Kim Kardashian next, because she is an "outspoken advocate" for stablecoins. Kardashian paid $1.26 million in penalties, disgorgement and interest in 2022 after the SEC found she had promoted the EthereumMax token on Instagram without disclosing a $250,000 payment.

Taylor Monahan, formerly of MetaMask, also weighed in on the partnership: "Circle really hired the guy who was charged with promoting one of the only ICO scams that was so stupid, so blatantly fraudulent, so criminal that it was written up in NYTimes and then promptly prosecuted by DOJ and SEC?"

Circle has not publicly disclosed the financial terms of any relationship with DJ Khaled or any details about the post.