**Crypto bill update: Advancing legislation**

Soccer megastar Cristiano Ronaldo released his fourth set of NFTs on Binance this week, continuing his partnership with the platform that began in mid-2022.

These NFTs offer holders opportunities to meet Ronaldo and access exclusive content, according to Binance’s website. This release comes shortly after a Florida judge denied a motion to dismiss a $1 billion class action lawsuit against Ronaldo, related to his promotion of Binance, as reported by Newsweek.

The lawsuit alleges that Ronaldo was not transparent about certain aspects of the promotion and that he effectively aided Binance in the sale of unregistered currencies.

Ronaldo's ongoing involvement with Binance and crypto is notable, especially as other sports stars have distanced themselves from crypto-related activities following lawsuits (for instance, Tom Brady is not actively promoting bitcoin). Even the $4.3 billion settlement Binance paid to the Securities and Exchange Commission for violating US laws hasn’t deterred Ronaldo.

I spoke with Sarah Dale, Binance’s head of partnerships, to understand the exchange's approach to sports partnerships like its ongoing one with Ronaldo.

Dale explained that the Ronaldo partnership helps Binance reach customers who are not “crypto natives.” Ronaldo’s popularity in countries where Binance is licensed to operate is also a key factor in choosing partnerships.

Dale provided an example: “The Olympics isn’t going to work for us, because we aren’t even in all of those countries.”

Overall, Dale emphasized that sports is a primary focus for Binance’s cultural marketing, which makes sense given the potential overlap between Ronaldo’s fans and potential crypto enthusiasts.

As Blockworks Research analyst Ryan Connor noted in 0x Research this week: “The college football, DraftKings, Barstool Sports combo is quite similar to crypto, DEX Screener, crypto twitter, no?”

**Celebrities Flock to Launch Memecoins**

Celebrities like Caitlyn Jenner, Iggy Azalea, Soulja Boy, and Trippie Redd have all been involved with Solana memecoins this week.

These celebrities are likely profiting from the price increases of these assets while encouraging their fanbases to invest alongside them. Memecoins not directly tied to celebrities also had notable performances.

For instance, the presidential candidate-themed memecoins BODEN and TREMP saw significant spikes after the news of Donald Trump’s felony conviction, according to CoinGecko.

One interesting stat: the Pepe memecoin now has a larger market capitalization than several top NFT projects combined, based on a dashboard by the pseudonymous @punk9059.

Other notable updates:

- Web3 gaming device company BitBoy is accepting pre-orders for a handheld gaming device.

- Metaverse fashion company RTFKT announced an upcoming collaboration with Nike in June.

- The move-and-earn app STEPN is launching a new app called STEPN GO.