Bitcoin Wallet App Promoted by Mike Tyson Gets Coverage
A new bitcoin wallet app with the theme and endorsement of former heavyweight boxer Mike Tyson was launched in Las Vegas with some fanfare yesterday.
It’s arguably a gimmick. Still, a popular celebrity’s endorsement is enough to get the cameras clicking and the mainstream press to take notice.
In a partnership with BitPay, Bitcoin Direct announced the Mike Tyson Digital Wallet yesterday after teaming up with “Iron Mike” earlier in July 2015 to announce his Bitcoin ATM, also in Vegas. Bitcoin Direct is a subsidiary of the Connexus Corporation and remarked during the announcement that the new application is the “first celebrity-associated digital wallet of any kind.”
Titled the ‘Mike Tyson Digital Wallet’, the wallet uses Copay’s open source code with a custom skin heavily featuring the boxer and his famous face tattoo, along with the ‘Mike Tyson Bitcoin brand.’ Copay is a bitcoin wallet platform developed by popular Bitcoin payments processor BitPay Inc.
Users of the app will be able to send and receive bitcoin due to its integration of Glidera, a bitcoin exchange platform.
‘The baddest man on the planet’ made headlines in September during the launch of the Mike Tyson Bitcoin ATM. It fundamentally facilitates users to quickly convert their fiat to bitcoin. The ATM is still functioning to this day, despite some reports of the occasional malfunction when taking a customer’s fiat currency to offer no bitcoin in return and questions of the feasibility of the Bitcoin ATM itself during the time of announcement.
No matter the reason or circumstance, a celebrity endorsement of a product is bound to attract headlines. Prior to the installation of the Mike Tyson Bitcoin ATM, the former heavyweight spoke about increasing awareness around the cryptocurrency. The following statement is taken from his Bitcoin website:
I’m grateful to be a part of the bitcoin revolution and hoping that my participation in this space will lead to more conversations and help increase knowledge and awareness. In no way do I profess to be any kind of bitcoin currency guru. It just seems very interesting and I’m intrigued with the possibilities.
The application is currently available for iOS users and is currently in development for Android users who will soon be able to install the app via the Play Store.
Featured image from Shutterstock. App screenshots from the iOS store.
