#Tom Brady jokingly takes blame for bitcoin tumble

Tom Brady has found himself at the center of a new “deflategate” scandal.

Crypto-crazy social media users are cheekily accusing the seven-time Super Bowl champion, who publicly embraced bitcoin in May, of deflating the digital currency — as the price of bitcoin has fallen substantially since he announced his support.

The former New England Patriots quarterback, 43, edited his Twitter profile picture last month to include red laser eyes, a symbol adopted by bitcoin buffs to show their enthusiasm for the cryptocurrency.

But since then, the price of bitcoin has fallen almost 40 percent — from over $56,000 on the day Brady changed his picture to just over $34,600 on Monday, according to data from Coinbase.

Brady himself even got in on the joke and took the blame.

“Alright the laser eyes didn’t work. Anyone have any ideas?” Brady said in response to a tweet from Jason Yanowitz, co-founder of digital asset media company Blockworks, who told the NFL icon to back off.

In reality, factors beyond Brady’s opinion have caused bitcoin to tumble from its all-time high of almost $65,000 in April, including regulatory scrutiny from governments worldwide and questions about the environmental impact of bitcoin mining.

At the CoinDesk Consensus 2021 forum in May, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers star said that he had purchased some crypto assets and was a “big believer” in the sector.