DJ Khaled, the Grammy-winning producer behind some of rap's biggest hits, is the face of a crypto promotion for the first time in nearly a decade. His last one, back in 2017, ended with a $15
DJ Khaled, the Grammy-winning producer behind some of rap's biggest hits, is the face of a crypto promotion for the first time in nearly a decade.
His last one, back in 2017, ended with a $152,725 settlement at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and it seems like the internet has not forgotten.
On Oct. 6, USDC account on X posted a photo of the producer in a Chelsea FC jersey branded "USDC by Circle," captioned "Another one."
Related: Circle announces new blockchain amid blockbuster earnings
For context, 'Another one' is a phrase Khaled shouts every time he announces a new record, and it became a meme years ago.
Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire followed about four hours later: "DJ Khaled welcome to team USDC."
Circle issues USDC, a stablecoin, which is a cryptocurrency designed to hold a steady $1 value.
The company sponsors Chelsea's shirts, which is where the jersey comes from. Neither post announced an actual deal with Khaled, who has his own ties to the club through a Roc Nation partnership announced in May.
Soon after the post, some users pushed back, reminding Khaled of his 2018 run-in with the SEC
The SEC charged Khaled, whose legal name is Khaled Khaled, on Nov. 29, 2018, over his promotion of Centra Tech's initial coin offering.
An ICO is a way of raising money by selling new crypto tokens directly to the public.
Centra had paid him $50,000.
Khaled called the offering a "Game changer" on his social media accounts and never mentioned the payment, which meant his followers had no way of knowing the endorsement was an ad.
DJ Khaled wears USDC by Circle tshirtX/@USDC
He settled without admitting or denying the findings, returned the $50,000, paid a $100,000 penalty plus $2,725 in interest, and accepted a two-year ban on promoting securities. The ban ran out in 2020.
Floyd Mayweather Jr. was charged the same day over his own Centra promotions and paid $614,775 with a three-year ban.
Centra itself had raised more than $25 million before its three co-founders were indicted for fraud, including making up partnerships with companies like Visa.
Editor's Inputs: In all fairness to Khaled, his case was the opening act of a crackdown that eventually caught half of Hollywood.
Kim Kardashian paid $1.26 million in 2022 for an undisclosed $250,000 Instagram post about the EMAX token.
NBA great Paul Pierce paid $1.4 million over the same token in 2023, and that March the SEC charged eight celebrities at once — Lindsay Lohan, Jake Paul, Soulja Boy, Akon, Lil Yachty and Ne-Yo among them — over paid posts for Justin Sun's Tron and BitTorrent tokens.
Then-SEC chair Gary Gensler, made crypto enforcement his signature.
However, the industry Khaled came back to is unrecognizable from the one he left. Centra was a fraud whose founders went to prison; it raised $25 million.
Circle is a New York Stock Exchange-listed company, and USDC — with roughly $75 billion in circulation — operates under the federal stablecoin rules Congress passed in 2025.
"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?" one user asked Circle, posting the SEC's litigation files.
Another called Khaled a "known blatant ICO scammer."
They did it for the memes pic.twitter.com/VUFY4bLBcS
— fewture 🎲 (@fewture) October 6, 2026
A few replies went after Circle's stock instead. "Stop making me want to sell all my circle stock," one user wrote. Another joked that the chart would soon "be a circle."
One user suggested Kim Kardashian as Circle's next signing. Someone else asked when Khaled would drop a "new tune on USDC," and one reply posted a GIF of Khaled saying "Man, I'm proud of you," with the comment, "They did it for the memes."
Related: Fed’s rate hike prompts Bank of America to raise price target on S&P 500 stock
