jfid – Cristiano Ronaldo, the world soccer star who now plays for Al-Nassr club in Saudi Arabia, is in big trouble. He faces a class action lawsuit in the United States for his promotion of Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange.
The plaintiffs claim that Ronaldo’s endorsement made them make losing investments. They demand compensation of “more than” $1 billion (about Rp 14.5 trillion).
The lawsuit was filed on November 29, 2023 in the Southern District Court of New York by a group of investors who claimed to have suffered losses from buying digital coins offered by Binance.
They accused Ronaldo of violating US securities laws by promoting Binance products that were not registered and regulated by US financial authorities.
According to the lawsuit, Ronaldo has been a Binance ambassador since 2022 and has participated in several advertising campaigns featuring the logo and name of Binance.
One of them was the NFT (non-fungible token) collection that Ronaldo created with Binance in October 2022. NFTs are unique and non-exchangeable digital assets, such as collectible cards, artworks, or digital souvenirs.
The Ronaldo NFT collection was called “ForeverCR7: The GOAT NFT Collection” and featured 10 designs that depicted Ronaldo’s career and achievements on the field.
The NFTs were sold at prices ranging from $1,000 to $100,000 each, and some of them also offered exclusive rewards, such as a soccer jersey signed by Ronaldo or a training session with Ronaldo.
The plaintiffs said they were interested in buying Ronaldo’s NFTs because they believed it was a profitable and safe investment, given Ronaldo’s reputation and popularity in the world.
However, they claimed they did not know that Ronaldo’s NFTs could only be purchased using Binance’s digital coin (BNB), which is a Binance product that is not registered and regulated in the US.
They also claimed that Binance had deceived them by hiding important information about the risks and liabilities associated with BNB, such as price fluctuations, market volatility, and potential legal action from regulators.
They accused Binance of exploiting Ronaldo’s popularity to attract inexperienced and careless investors into the crypto trap.
As a result, the plaintiffs suffered huge losses when the price of BNB plummeted by about 70% since its peak in May 2023.
In addition, they also faced difficulties in selling or exchanging their BNBs because Binance had been blocked by several other crypto trading platforms in the US, such as Coinbase, Kraken, and Gemini, which followed the rules of regulators.
This lawsuit is the most serious legal action faced by Binance and Ronaldo in the US, after Binance was also sued by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in June 2023.
The CFTC accused Binance of offering illegal crypto derivatives trading to US investors without having the required license.
Binance denied all the allegations and said they had complied with the laws and regulations in every country where they operate. Binance also said they had cooperated with US regulators and tried to resolve the issue peacefully.
Binance insisted that they were not responsible for the losses suffered by investors due to factors beyond their control, such as market movements, cyberattacks, or personal decisions of investors.
Ronaldo himself has not given an official response regarding the lawsuit. However, on the same day when the lawsuit was filed, he uploaded a video on his social media showing him undergoing a lie detector test organized by Binance.
In the video, Ronaldo was asked about various things, ranging from his favorite food, hobbies, to his future plans.
One of the questions asked was: “Do you have a new project with Binance?” Ronaldo answered with a smile: “Yes, I do.” Then, the lie detector machine showed that Ronaldo’s answer was true.
The video then ended with the sentence: “Get ready for a new surprise. The journey has just begun.”
The video sparked various reactions from netizens. Some considered it as a form of provocation or insult to the plaintiffs, while others considered it as a clever marketing strategy or funny humor.
However, what is certain is that the video shows that Ronaldo is still loyal and believes in Binance, despite facing a billion-dollar lawsuit.
