Surf Legend Kelly Slater Wants to Create His Own Crypto

Champion surfer and environmentalist Kelly Slater has expressed an ambition to add a personalised cryptocurrency brand to his list of 11 world titles.

The 49-year-old American has long observed the progress of Bitcoin and Ethereum and says the prospect of hitching a crypto asset to his latest green project is his next challenge after 40 years at the sporting forefront.

Slater has been focusing his attention on a wood recycling company and hopes to link a crypto coin to his environmental endeavours.

I’ve started reaching out to people in the crypto world who make these things. We’ll see if there’s something we can do that’s a positive one, and not a fly-by-night coin where people are just trying to make a quick buck overnight.

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Kelly Slater

The Florida native says he has a basic understanding of blockchain and cryptocurrency, and their relationship to world economies.

I think it’s interesting to have a currency – a store of value – that isn’t controlled by a CEO or a government. It’s an exciting, rare time for people to do their investing themselves.

Dogecoin and Its Ilk “Need to Disappear”

Slater doesn’t want his crypto to be a meme currency like Dogecoin, which “literally has zero purpose for anyone”. In fact, he adds:  “Those all need to disappear.” A new technology, he says, “should have some kind of utility or protocol that makes a company or people’s lives better”.

The champion surfer would approve of Quebecois bitcoin mining company Bitfarms, which listed on NASDAQ last month and is committed to using green energy. More than 99 percent of the power it uses to run its operations comes from hydroelectric energy.

He’d also be happy to know that Ethereum 2.0 is greener and better for the environment – up to 99 percent more sustainable, according to some industry observers.