NBA legend Kobe Bryant has been confirmed for a high profile speaking slot at niTROn 2019, the inaugural international crypto conference organized by Tron.

Marketing boon for Tron?

Looking forward to having @kobebryant, CEO & President of Kobe Inc and #NBA legend, at our first international conference #niTROn2019!! Excited to exchange insights on entrepreneurship! Join the event https://t.co/ahMTEsixkg pic.twitter.com/WP7Gjcmx6D — Justin Sun (@justinsuntron) November 20, 2018

In October, CCN.com reported that former US president Bill Clinton delivered an address at Ripple’s Swell conference in San Francisco where he stated that blockchain technology has “staggering” possibilities. Bryant’s upcoming appearance at the Tron summit is yet another indication of the burgeoning profile of the cryptocurrency industry, which — armed with ICO capital — now has real pulling power compared to a few years ago.

Bryant is an all-time-great slated to be inducted into the NBA hall of fame in 2021 following a wildly successful 21-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers, in which time he also won two Olympic gold medals with the US Men’s Basketball team. Since his retirement, he has been at work on a number of media projects, but this is his first public foray into the world of cryptocurrency.

To some, his involvement is a genuine coup for the cryptocurrency ecosystem, as it potentially provides an avenue for one of the world’s most respected sports figures to introduce crypto to some of his over 14 million Twitter followers. To others, however, Sun’s announcement may likely go down with a pinch of salt as the recent saga surrounding the crypto project’s allegedly-misleading characterization of a partnership between Tron and Baidu — which turned out to be a cloud computing agreement — has yet to fully die down.

The niTROn summit specifically aims to appeal to uninitiated industries to give blockchain technology a try, so the use of a popular face is perhaps understandable for marketing purposes, but it will also be interesting to get Bryant’s original thoughts on cryptocurrency.

Speaking to Forbes about adding Bryant’s participation to the summit, Sun said:

“Kobe Bryant is a basketball genius. I have been a huge fan of Kobe and deeply inspired by his journey. It’s my great honor to have Kobe as our special guest for the niTROn Summit. It’s worth mentioning that Kobe Bryant is not only a basketball genius, but also an investment genius. We look forward to hearing his great speeches at the summit.”

According to information from Tron, Justin Sun will share useful data about Tron’s future plans in the course of the summit. There will also be a special session for blockchain development leaders to discuss technical issues such as DEX development and public chain research.

Kobe Bryant Image from Shutterstock