The biggest consumer brands that engaged with crypto in 2021

cointelegraph.com:

2021 was an exciting year for crypto, with several well-known — some unexpected — brands entering the crypto sector. Here’s looking at you, Charmin, and your toilet paper nonfungible tokens (NFTs). The year saw its fair share of moments that had crypto enthusiasts on the edge of their seats.

While many people continued to talk generally about the revolutionary power of cryptocurrencies and blockchain, it seems as though 2021 was the year when the ideas underlying these technologies truly took hold of the consciousness of the mainstream. From NFTs to Web3, there has never been more interest expressed from traditional players in relation to this fast-expanding ecosystem.

Here are some of the biggest moves made by major consumer brands to engage with and adopt various crypto-centric technologies — be it simply buying Bitcoin (BTC) or releasing an NFT collection. 

No list of this nature can be complete without mentioning the news that probably got most of today’s younger — and likely older, too — crypto investors interested in the space. In February, Elon Musk’s Tesla made a bombshell announcement, revealing it had invested a whopping $1.5 billion dollars in Bitcoin. This was nearly 8% of Tesla’s $19 billion cash and cash equivalent reserves, the amount it held according to a 2020 Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

As soon as Musk made his foray into the world of cryptocurrencies, the value of Bitcoin shot up meteorically — rising from $38,000 to over $57,000 within roughly two weeks. Not only that, but over the course of the year, Musk revealed to the world that he had also made sizable acquisitions of other assets like Ether (ETH) and Dogecoin (DOGE), although he did not disclose the exact amounts.

Another decision that