Why Is Mariah Carey Teaming Up With the Winklevoss Twins? (Hint: It Has to Do With Financial Empowerment)

Mariah Carey is getting into the crypto game, teaming up with cryptocurrency platform Gemini on a new campaign aimed at encouraging women to educate themselves about this new asset class.

Carey appears in a new video that seeks to take the intimidation factor out of investing in bitcoin, with the singer and songwriter sharing her experiences as an investor, while talking up Gemini’s online (and free) Cryptopedia resource.

Investors can also use the code “mariah” while on the platform, and a portion of trading fees will be donated to BlackGirlsCode — a nonprofit that gives young women of color access to technology and classes on computer programming.

A rep for Gemini says the partnership began through an “organic connection” between Carey’s team and the platform, with Gemini founders Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss (yes, those Winklevoss twins) wanting to find someone who could reach a broad demographic with her messaging. Carey has also long held an interest in the asset class — the singer’s website previously accepted the privacy-oriented Monero as a form of payment during the holiday season in 2017, as part of a Monero initiative dubbed Project Coral Reef.

Gemini says Carey’s influence in the space and her commitment to educating and empowering women made her a great fit for the campaign. “It’s great to see Mariah and other celebrities discover Bitcoin as an investment and hedge against inflation,” Tyler Winklevoss says in a press release. “Cryptos like Bitcoin and Ether were two of the best-performing assets of the last decade. Our goal at Gemini is to help educate you on the promise of crypto and make it simple, easy, and safe for you to engage in this new asset class.”

Gemini’s 2021 State of U.S. Crypto Report found that the number of crypto investors is set to double this past year, along with a growing number of what the company calls the “crypto-curious.” Gemini says 53 percent of the crypto-curious — meaning people who reported an interest in investing in the asset class — were women. And the company hopes that bringing on Carey will further increase those numbers, helping women become more comfortable with Bitcoin and eventually become investors themselves.

Part of Carey’s campaign is also intended to debunk common myths about Bitcoin and show women that they don’t have to be wealthy, or an expert in finance, to participate. The Gemini rep calls it a “myth that you need to buy a whole Bitcoin,” telling Rolling Stone that many users on the platform “fractionally invest” — i.e., they can put in as much or as little money as they want toward a whole coin.

Carey is the latest artist to (publicly) join the crypto craze. A number of celebrities have released NFTs — non-fungible tokens — over the past year, turning what seemed like a digital fad into an important part of the music industry today.

As for the Winklevii, the brothers may be successful entrepreneurs (reports say Gemini now oversees assets worth more than $25 billion), but they aren’t total strangers to the music scene: The twins play in a rock cover band called Mars Junction, with Tyler on vocals and Cameron on guitar.