Yassi Pressman is the face of a new campaign by the country’s most popular crypto platform.
As the new brand ambassador for Coins.ph, Pressman is one of the few celebrities to openly promote cryptocurrency. (READ: [Finterest] What is cryptocurrency, and what’s with the hype?)
“Crypto has been a part of my financial journey, and I have seen its potential to improve lives by providing access to financial services and opportunities for wealth creation,” Pressman said in a Coins.ph press release on Monday, August 5.
The tech savvy actress’ journey with crypto all started in the late 2010s with a bet in Ethereum.
Instead of opting for Bitcoin — the poster child of crypto — Pressman first invested $300 in Ethereum around 2018, before regulators even began looking into crypto.
“For me, the coin that I really just keep talaga is only Ethereum,” Pressman said during the campaign launch on Monday. “I didn’t touch Bitcoin, I didn’t touch anything else because I was very skeptical. It was that time when things were unregulated.”
To “play it safe,” Pressman first bought the equivalent of $300 in Ethereum. Now, its value is at $2,300, according to the actress.
“I just put my money there in 2017, 2018, and I’ve kind of just seen it grow,” she said.
Assuming Pressman invested in 2018, and given the figures that she gave, her investment grew by 666.7% in about six years. Using the compound annual growth formula, this works out to an average growth rate of more than 40% every year — much higher than returns from safer, traditional investments like government securities or corporate bonds.
“I saw it drop during the bear market, which was kind of sad,” Pressman said. “Now, we’re back on our feet. I’m glad I did not pull out everything. And I kind of see that if I put it somewhere else, it wouldn’t have grown so much.”
But even before Pressman became an ambassador for Coins.ph, she was already dabbling in the Axie Infinity scene, back when the blockchain-enabled game was wildly popular in the Philippines. In October 2021, the actress launched her own “Axie Pressman Elite Academy” to help train “scholars” and provide income for families through the game’s crypto features.
“I wanted to use Axie Infinity during the pandemic to really help Filipinos. Many of the scholars that we got were jeepney drivers, tricycle drivers who lost their jobs,” Pressman said in a mix of English and Filipino during the Coins.ph launch. “Axie Infinity was one of the ways for us to provide them with a job.”
‘Do your own research’
But while cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Axie’s Smooth Love Potion can provide high returns, it’s always important to remember that nothing is guaranteed. Bitcoin has seen record highs and lows, and even more speculative tokens called “memecoins” can swing in price based on something as immaterial as a viral tweet. (READ: Stung by losses, Filipino players ditch Axie Infinity crypto game)
According to the country’s biggest crypto platform, the best way to invest in crypto is to do your own homework — know what you’re getting into and be aware that your money could drop in value as easily as it grows.
“Do your own research. Only invest the money you’re willing to lose. And only transact in platforms that are regulated and are monitored by your license to do that type of transaction in your country,” Coins.ph country manager Jen Bilango told Rappler.
Make no mistake, Coins.ph is also spending big — with a nationwide campaign led by an A-list actress — with the goal of revamping crypto’s reputation as a haven for criminals and fraudsters. Although crypto has become much safer in recent years as government entities like the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) have stepped in as regulators, some bad actors and scammers still operate in the space. (READ: Clark exec admits crypto scam operations a ‘failure of intelligence’)
Just earlier in July, perpetrators of an alleged cryptocurrency project called the “Tesler Code” used deepfakes of billionaire Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, and BSP Governor Eli Remolona Jr. to lure would-be investors. Both the Ayala Corporation chairman and the BSP Governor seemed to promote the crypto project in the artificial intelligence-manipulated videos.
The best way to stay safe from scams when dealing with crypto is to transact only on regulated exchanges. – Rappler.com
