Pogacar and Ku Coin

Tadej Pogačar is the new “Global Brand Ambassador” of Ku Coin, a cryptocurrency exchange. He’s not the first or last athlete or celebrity to front for a crypto company.

This company has been on European warning lists, fined in Canada and the US. It’s also been in the news lately after being linked to a massive financial scandal in South-East Asia.

Loyal readers may remember Pogačar was tipped to do more corporate and media work over the winter. The idea was “he ought to be on cereal boxes, doing Gillette adverts” but alas the source was only half-right given he seems to have settled for cryptocurrency. Nevermind the asset class because the specific choice of Ku Coin is worth exploring.

Ku Coin is a big crypto trading platform founded in China and now run from the Seychelles. At one point it was ranked as the fourth biggest exchange by volume but has fallen down since. This means they might want a cheerful athlete with a big online following to promote them. And there is some good news to share as Ku Coin has become an approved business in Austria and in turn obtained a passport to operate across Europe. So it is a legitimate business in Europe. Only you can tell there’s a big but coming…

For years Ku Coin has been on warning lists after trying to operate in Europe without approval (here, here). It was also banned and fined in Ontario, Canada. It foolishly tried this in US which led to the US issuing arrest warrants for two of its founders. This lead to the company pleading guilty and paying $297 million in fines. Here’s former US attorney Danielle Sassoon:

“For years, KuCoin avoided implementing required anti-money laundering policies designed to identify criminal actors and prevent illicit transactions. As a result, KuCoin was used to facilitate billions of dollars’ worth of suspicious transactions and to transmit potentially criminal proceeds, including proceeds from darknet markets and malware, ransomware, and fraud schemes”
– Press release, US Attorney’s Office, New York , 27 January 2025

So far this doesn’t sound like a great company to associate with. Only things look worse a year later. Alarm bells rang last autumn when investigative reporting website Project Brazen featured Ku Coin and its Thai subsidiary. If you have any spare time the full article is really worth reading and is free if you sign up, to the point that you’re better off quitting this blog post to go read it.

It alleges a transnational “pig butchering” scam involving human trafficking, torture, forced detention with tentacles reaching into several countries, notably Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar linked to Chinese-born Cambodian resident Chen Zhi and Prince Group, a company he chaired.

A month after Brazen’s first article appeared the US Department of Justice moved to seize $15 billion in crypto assets, the largest ever seizure by a law agency apparently. The Chinese government objected to this, accusing the US of looting the funds. The US and UK have sanctioned Prince Group and Chen. Thai police issued arrest warrants for 42 people. The Thai deputy finance minister has resigned in order to clear his name. There have been shockwaves in Cambodia too with Chen reportedly being stripped of Cambodian citizenship by royal decree.

Things have not stopped there. If China objected to the US seizing the money, it has gone after Chen and recently extradited him from Cambodia. As the photo above shows he got conspicuous treatment on arrival which suggests Chen may not be enjoying full innocent-before-proven-guilty status. As it happens Chinese news agency Xinhua announced today that 11 people were executed for conducting an online scam operation in Myanmar after being extradited to China.

If this is all getting a long way from Tadej Pogačar, this is where Ku Coin apparently comes in. The proceeds of the Chen Zhi’s alleged crimes needed to be laundered. Project Brazen writes “fronts for KuCoin illegally took stakes in Finansia, secretly integrating a crypto exchange with the banking sector – a channel to move stolen crypto into the banking system without oversight”. Again it’s worth reading the full allegations for context. Finansia X has since rejected the claims and says it will sue.

The crucial point for a cycling blog is the allegation that Ku Coin was involved in criminal conspiracy to launder money from crime. Unlike past lapses where it might not have asked many questions about where client money was coming from, this time the claim is that it was actively conspiring which would be a serious crime. But for now we’ve read the allegations and they’re just that. We can give Ku Coin’s business in Thailand the right of being innocent as no court of law has found against it. But these stories are hot right now and it would be prudent for Pogačar and his entourage to have held off.

Conclusion
You can easily make the case that Tadej Pogačar is one of the world’s best athletes. Plus he enjoys a wholesome reputation, a cherubic look at races and a cheerful presence on social media. Good luck finding someone who knows him to say a bad word. He ought to be the face of Kelloggs cereal, Gillette razors, Pepsi Cola or Visa cards. Maybe all of them at the same time. Crypto? Meh, but why not. But Ku Coin?

Pogačar can’t be expected to spend his winter reading the Bangkok newspapers nor cross-checking US Department of Justice press releases and Dutch regulatory filings. But he pays people do do this for him. Whoever negotiated this deal on his behalf – and presumably collected the announcement fee – ought to have sat down in front of a search engine to read about Ku Coin as it looks risky to endorse the company right now. Yes it’s been approved for business in Europe now but has a history of rule-breaking and fines and this alone seems a poor match for Pogačar. But right now it is linked to a serious ongoing scandal. Ku Coin needs Tadej Pogačar a lot more than he needs them.

68 thoughts on “Pogacar and Ku Coin”

  1. Pogi loves associating with companies that doesn’t sound like great companies to be associated with. Look at his other sponsors.
    And I for one like the irony in the fact that he is now the face of a currency for people who believe in miracles.

    • It seems that the copy at that ad-agency doesn’t lack irony, indeed: «Trust, Proven by Performance» and a sportsman ROTFL
      Both in finance and in sports, performances are actually among the best reason *not to* trust…

      • The press release quotes Pogačar:

        “At the highest level of cycling, trust is built through preparation, consistency, and a relentless focus on safety. You earn it over time, through performance and responsible decision-making under pressure. That mindset strongly resonates with how KuCoin approaches trust and security.”

        It’s probably not his words of course, an inauthentic attributed PR quote. But his team will have signed off on the quote and “trust and security” is a bold claim for a company with a history multiple regulatory issues. And I didn’t mention the massive wallet thefts above as they seem par for the course in the field but contributed to the company losing market share.

    • Hopefully just his image rights… but an odd match. Plenty of athletes promote crypto and probably because it pays well for the publicity rather than any interest in alternative assets. But of all the companies in the field to link up with he’s aligned with this one?

      • Great piece and totally sharing your view.

        That said, what if some big technobros company was negotiating a deal? (Hard to imagine anything like that, both because it’s not their approach and as Pogi has been vocal against social media). However, my point is that besides what they’re actually being brought into USA courts, similar to pig butchering but worse, they’re also being specifically linked to providing a favourable context for scamming and knowingly so, given that it accounts for some 10% of their revenues, according to internal communications. Just asking the scammers more money doesn’t look like you’re really willing to stop that, rather profiting from it.
        https://www.wired.it/article/meta-ricavi-arriva-pubblicita-illegali-truffe-online/

        Of course, this doesn’t make KU coin any better and associating with them is still among the worst ever ideas in the whole history of managing a star’s image. Yet it’s worth remembering the full context when the darkest side of online life surfaces. Same for «traditional banks» etc.
        Le secret des grandes fortunes sans cause apparente est un crime oublié, parce qu’il a été proprement fait.

        • Very happy to read Balzac here, thanks gabriele ! The must-read of this subject is the end of Illusions perdues with the fake abbot Herrera, who’s the criminal Vautrin, saving Lucien de Rubempré from suicide and explaining him how the world works.
          Very surprised by this news. We can really wonder who’s in charge of Pogacar’s PR : real mistake ? Greed ? In both case it’s a serious malpractice. All this thing will surely blossom just before the TdF, and Pogacar will have to handle all this if nobody tells him before…

          • Probably my favourite among Balzac’s. It’s impressive to check how adequate can still be in our present days the tension built throughout the whole novel between creating words which are forged to last versus the “forgery” of ideas through disposable words, paralleled by the material evolution of low cost paper and the corresponding transformation of the press world. And much more of course, for example the relation between specific spaces of the city (the galleries, the bois) and the interaction of image and marketability (which brings us back on theme 😛 )

    • I laughed out loud at the photo: a cheerful high point to an otherwise quite depressing article (because of the subject, rather than the excellent writing)

    • Credit to Project Brazen. Vague memories of something about a Russian oligarch adjacent to potential cycling sponsorship – that long ago? – that put them on the pro cycling radar but a distant blip.

      The Ku Coin story appeared last autumn and was interesting by itself as tale of intrigue and has blown up into something big in the region but zero cycling crossover. Until suddenly it all came back thanks to Pogačar.

  5. Interesting that the advertisement shows Tadej in kit with UAE, LCL, Santini, and Tour de France logos. Usually the sponsored athlete wears generic kit (or is photoshopped) because the team and jersey sponsors may not want it implied that they too are supporting the company.

  7. Recently read an article about a scamming compound in Myanmar that ended up being shut down when the area it was in became a war zone as rebel forces took control. The details were horrific, and while I’m not sure I endorse China’s summary execution of these kinds of criminals, they are a special kind of appalling.
    Crypto isn’t the only way to move illicit funds around, but it is certainly a way to facilitate those kinds of activities, and it doesn’t take a lot of knowledge to have a healthy suspicion of a company like KuCoin. That Pogacar would not care enough to even ask his team to give this opportunity a bit of scrutiny is disappointing to say the least. Not the first athlete to take money from whoever wants to give it to him, and not the last, but doesn’t improve my image of him much.

    • The scam industry has become so big it’s been involved in military conflict. The Chinese backed a local rebel push in Myanmar in order to make the ruling military lose control of the area and border crossings and so leave the mafia groups there exposed and liable to be arrested.

      The ongoing conflict between Thailand and Cambodia has seen Thailand attacking suspected sites in Cambodia, indeed one of the causal factors behind the implosion of the Prince Group seems to be the conflict between these two countries where there has been military action but the leaks claim top level connivance between senior politicians and officials on both sides, the revelation of this has been damaging. A “Captain Renault” scenario if you like.

  8. It all makes me a bit sad, a reminder that cycling doesn’t have that much money and still has a shady reputation (obviously the two things are connected) so weird actors (Nexthash) can get heard. I wonder if Ku got anywhere near any top golfers or tennis players or football players. And, as you imply, away from Belgium people like Gillette and Kelloggs don’t go near cyclists.

    • You mean Belgian business like Lidl, Decathlon, Movistar, Red Bull, Tudor, Total etc.? (all of them consumer-oriented and quite big in terms of revenues)

      • I meant at the level of individual rider endorsements, not teams
        But I take your point, absolutely, the sport as a whole is less toxic than it was. Even at team level though there are obviously big problems if Visma seems to have such difficulty getting a rich donor, the Picnic situation, etc.

        • I suspect that as far as individual riders are concerned it’s more about the “star” status rather than anything else. Cycling struggles with that and in recent years it’s easier to name the few positive exceptions (Boonen, Gilbert, Sagan, Cav, MvdP, Remco, Wout…), mostly Belgian indeed, when instead so many top athletes actually lacked a point of marketable charisma, think Froome, Nibali, Quintana, Valverde, Van Avermaet, Rogla, Vingo, the Yates etc.
          Other sit somewhere midway, likeable guys with a niche of solid positive impact, say Pinot, Bardet, Urán, Chaves, Bernal, Landa, but it’s hard to imagine them becoming mass-market outside of their country or cycling nerds.

          As for Visma and Picnic, they went apparently through similar issues (the latter some 7-8 years ago I think) of athletes and staff vocally leaving because an oppressive and rigid environment, or at least that’s what used to be the public motivation. That sort of situation, whatever it might mean, easily leaks out before it becomes a matter of news reporting and it doesn’t bode well from several POVs, so notwithstanding J-V’s results I wasn’t really *that* surprised when they hadn’t big sponsors betting on them.

          • I would hasten to add that just before that group of riders you listed, there were some very “complicated” personalities in the sport who made sponsors think twice about getting into the cycling business. Add to that the somewhat milquetoast personas of many cyclists (they spend a lot of time by themselves, after all), and it doesn’t scream “great advertising opportunity” outside the places where people like Wout and Uran are major stars.

          • In all fairness, very few top cyclists have a marketable persona. To win the Tour, you likely have to be so focused, able to thrive, suffer, and operate in your own bubble for years, that social skills and charisma end up far down your list of priorities. Vingo’s extreme shyness, bordering on painful, and Pogi’s inanely goofy smiles and saccherine interviews are just the latest examples. Even Bernal, with at least a modicum of bubbly character and probably the most engaging Tour winner in the last half-century, wasn’t really someone who could sell anything. I’d probably agree that the handful of Belgians you mention are the exceptions.

  10. Under U.S. law, sports figures and other celebrities who endorse shady crypto companies have regularly become the targets of false advertising and related claims. It’s been reported that Shaquille O’Neal (NBA) paid $1.8 million to settle one of these claims arising from his promotion of the infamous and now defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX. Other defendants recently targeted in similar lawsuits have included Tom Brady (NFL), Steph Curry (NBA), Naomi Osaka (tennis), Floyd Mayweather (boxing), and Kim Kardashian (ubiquitous). I’m unsure if these kinds of claims can be pursued internationally, but I would hope that Tadej’s advisors have counseled him that endorsement deals aren’t necessarily free money.

    • A reminder that putting your name to a product can have consequences and there are cases outside of Europe too, promoting financial products comes with a lot more regulation and consequences compared to BBQ accessories or shower gel. I at least hope Pogačar’s entourage has a veto/approval for all images and campaigns given the company has a track record of miss-selling in multiple jurisdictions so they don’t land him in it further.

  12. Imagine being Pogi,

    Wakes up, kisses Urska on shoulder as the Monaco sun shines through the curtains, rolls out of bed. Makes himself a brew on his chrome Rocket Espresso machine, settles into his chair and pickups up his ipad, checks inrng like he does every day.

    reads this article

  13. Imagine being Pogi,

    A millionaire who is still so greedy and without principles that he’ll do this just so that his bank balance is needlessly larger.

  14. These crypto things and their money laundering. Jeebus. Thank god my favourite team Visma-Leasebike aren’t associated with anything like that!

    “In September 2022, [Jumbo] CEO Fris van Eerd was arrested amid ongoing investigations into money laundering”.

    Oh FFS, ok… that’s a one-off.

    “In February 2018, Rabobank reached a settlement with the United States Department of Justice for 298 million euros. The bank did not have its internal controls in order, resulting in hundreds of millions of dollars in drug money being laundered through the American Rabobank subsidiary RNA in California”

    Ok, ok, so they had to pay a similar size fine to KuCoin, well, uh…

    But look at all the other wholesome sponsors in cycling? …. Oh never mind, I’ll just be off.

    • Brilliant post Paul! It’s a grimy world out there. That said, as other commenters have pointed out, he didn’t need the money and certainly didn’t need to take it from a sketchy crypto business. This reflects on him very personally in my opinion.

  15. Given the insane amount of money Pog is making by pro cycling standards, it’s mind-boggling that he has so little decency as to willingly involve himself in yet another crypto scam. Even more nauseating is how UAE seems to turn a blind eye to it.

    I distrust and can’t stand the UAE’s sportswashing, so it’s no shock they’ll accept anything, but I’m genuinely surprised Pog is willing to take that path.

    • I think it is a case of “sports-people are not very bright (or informed)” rather than malice or lack of decency. Most sports-people know very little about the world outside their sport.

      • Of course, Pog does seem to be one of the dimmer bulbs—even by cycling standards. Still, I’d imagine that even outside the UAE mess, he has advisors and family who could guide him, and given his status in Slovenia, the national cycling association, Olympic committee, or whatever other interested parties could step in and say, “Well, Tadej, this might not be the best idea…”

        Are there any Slovenian readers here on Inrng? I’d be interested to hear the local reactions to this, if there are any..

        • Which is why it’s surprising that after a search of companies around the world, he’s now the ambassador for a company that’s paid hundreds of millions of dollars of fines across multiple jurisdictions and is engulfed in a massive scandal right now. If you go to the Thai Enquirer website right now the *top story* is the government cancelling an agreement which was allegedly brokered by the same guy who has fled the country after the money laundering scheme was exposed. It looks like he’s got bad advice here.

  16. Interesting development: I just heard something on the Escape Collective podcast implying that Pogi himself may have been scammed, as some of the KuCoin content has been pulled down. I’m not on social media myself, wondering if anyone else has followed up any of this?

    • I’ve not seen that or anything like that. I don’t think he’s been defrauded here? Not listened to the podcast but the website also points out the problems with Ku Coin and Pogačar’s seeming lack of research before becoming the public face of the company.

  19. This seems really dodgy. KuCoin was banned in France, I think it was last year, yet Pogi is wearing the TdF yellow. I wonder what the ASO makes of this?

    • It was blacklisted and despite this, carried on trading in France. But finally decided to withdraw to comply with the law.

      Now it is authorised and regulated so less of an issue but the “trust, proven by performance” marketing strapline is an audacious one.

      • You are right – I stand corrected!

        Given the authorities’ focus on crypto in France, Spain, and most other European countries (check this out if you understand Spanish to see why it’s complex in Spain: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/w77o1KY_QSA), and considering they’re the biggest audiences for anything Pogi, his choice of crypto seems even more puzzling.

        Is KuCoin active in the UAE? Or even legal, and if so, are they a big player there? That seems like the only explanation I can think of.

        • We are totally on “wild conjectures” ground, but I’d say that it’s indeed a good angle to think about the geopolitical potential implications, irrespective whether Ku is actually active in the UAE or not. Maybe the actions from China to a-hem “clean up” the field around Ku Coin could point towards the same direction in order to develop one further tool to implement a multipolar financial world.

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