Pop icon Mariah Carey is the latest celebrity to embrace Bitcoin (BTC) through the Winklevoss-led Gemini cryptocurrency substitution, offering some other sign that digital assets are becoming mainstream.

In a video message to her 10.2 million Instagram followers, Carey announced Tuesday that she is partnering with Gemini to boost Bitcoin adoption and support girls of colour in their pursuit of STEM degrees — a broad teaching category that refers to scientific discipline, engineering, engineering and mathematics.

In the video, Carey confirmed that she invests in Bitcoin through Gemini. She likewise gave her fans a referral code to redeem $20 in free BTC.

"Did you lot know you don't demand to buy a whole Bitcoin to invest? In fact, you tin purchase equally little every bit $five," she said.

Carey credited Cryptopedia, Gemini's free education platform, for teaching her virtually cryptocurrency investing.

Users who sign upwardly through the referral link and brainstorm trading on Gemini will be contributing directly to Black Girls Code, a non-profit organization that provides technology didactics for African-American girls.

While early crypto investors were considered ahead of their time for investing in Bitcoin before the major fiscal institutions, a large segment of the market is heavily influenced by celebrity endorsements. In September, a Morn Consult survey of 2,200 United states adults found that 45% of crypto holders would seek exposure to a cryptocurrency if information technology is endorsed past someone famous.

Related: TikTok embraces NFTs with creator-led drove

Celebrities have become highly influential in the budding nonfungible token (NFT) market, which has attracted billions of dollars in investment this twelvemonth alone. Despite the frothy hype, Ethereum co-creator Vitalik Buterin believes celebrities can push the NFT market place toward socially relevant causes.