Celebs Are Down Millions on Their NFT Investments – Here’s a Detailed Breakdown
The market for non-fungible tokens (NFTs) took the world by storm in early 2021. Characterized by insanely high price tags, NFTs became somehow comparable to the real-world art market, attracting different cohorts of investors.
One such cohort was celebrities and famous personalities, who not only spent millions on digital collectibles but also proudly boasted about their NFTs by using them as their social media profiles.
However, times are different now. Since the beginning of 2022, the price of ether has plummeted by 60% and NFT trading volume is down approximately 90% since Q3 2021. As the bear market rages on and the hype around NFTs has died down, how much is the NFTs acquired by celebs worth now?
To find out, we have compiled a list of how much celebrities paid for NFTs at the time of purchase, and how much those NFTs are now worth.
1. Snoop Dogg
In December 2021, rapper and music producer Snoop Dogg purchased the work of digital artist XCOPY, Right Click and Save As guy.
Snoop bought the original NFT for 1,600 ETH, or $7,088,229 at the time. With the value of Ethereum falling, that same amount of ETH would be worth $2,083,456, less than two-thirds of its original value.
Snoop’s growing interest in NFT and Web3 has been notable in the last two years. In February 2022, Snoop Dogg shared his plans to turn Death Row Records into an NFT music label, releasing a collection of NFT songs on OpenSea weeks later.
2. Justin Bieber
Pop singer Justin Bieber is next with his purchase of Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) #3001, which he purchased in January 2022 for $1,301,550 or 500 ETH. Justin sparked speculation on Instagram after he posted the photo of the ape without confirming that he had purchased it.
If Bieber had bought this NFT today, it would have cost $651,080.
3. Gary Vee
Entrepreneur and NFT influencer Gary Vaynerchuk (commonly known as Gary Vee) purchased CryptoPunk #2140 for 1,600 ETH, which was $3,953,216 in July 2021.
Snoop and Vaynerchuck paid the same amount of ETH for their tokens; however, Vaynerchuck got a better deal than Snoop by buying the token from him five months earlier. His current NFT price would be the same for both men: $2,083,456.
Vaynerchuck, the entrepreneur who founded restaurant reservation platform Resy, owns more than 7,000 NFTs according to a press release. He is not only a collector but also a builder in the Web3 space. In May 2021, he launched a collection of NFTs called VeeFriends on OpenSea, and last May he filed a trademark for Vayner3, his own NFT consulting firm.
4. Logan Paul
Infamous YouTuber turned WWE wrestler Logan Paul purchased K4M-1 #03 from the 0N1 Force Collection. Paul bought this NFT for 188 ETH in February 2021 for $624,669, which would be $244,806 today.
However, this “Bumblebee NFT” has been in the news when a tweet claiming it was worth only $10 today went viral. When decentralized app data site DappRadar investigated the data, it estimated that the token was worth 8.12 ETH, or about $10,516, actually.
Paul’s first steps into the NFT space allowed him to mimic the collections in the early days of the hype. She currently has several CryptoPunks, World of Women NFTs, as well as a Bored Ape on two OpenSea accounts.
5. Steve Aoki
DJ and music producer Steve Aoki purchased Doodle #2238 for 269.69 ETH, or $862,056, in January 2022.
Had Aoki purchased the Doodle from him today, he would have cost her $351,179, less than half the original purchase amount from him.
Aoki has been a proponent of the growing Web3 space. Last April, he launched Sci-Fi NFT on the Nifty Gateway NFT platform and secured funding to create an NFT TV show in August 2022.
6. Neymar Jr.
Neymar Jr., the Brazilian footballer for Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), bought BAYC #5269 in January 2022 for 186.69 ETH, which was $569,531 at the time. If he bought the NFT today, he would be worth $247,007.
Neymar purchased the BAYC #6633 on the same day and paid a total of $1.05 million for the pair.
While he made the token his profile picture for a moment amid the hype, his roots in cryptocurrency run deeper. In 2018, his football club made plans to create a social token with European blockchain company Socios, which has also partnered with Barcelona, Juventus, Atletico Madrid and Manchester City.
7. Marshmallow
DJ and music producer Marshmello purchased CryptoPunk #8274 in October 2021 for $504,069 or 130 ETH. Today, that would be $169,280.
Marshmello previously bought other tokens, including BAYC #4808, which he bought in September 2021 and sold the following December for a profit of $180,000.
According to his OpenSea wallet, the artist still owns CryptoPunk #8274, and he also owns BAYC #9231 and various CrypToadz, among other tokens.
8. Madonna
The “Queen of Pop” Madonna also jumped on the NFT hype, buying BAYC #4988 for 180 ETH in March 2022.
At the time of her purchase, she paid $466,461. Today, it is worth $234,388.
Although Madonna purchased the NFT from her near the end of the publicity period, she did release a collection of NFTs with artist Beeple in May called “Mother of Creation”, which, as usual for Madonna, generated some controversy.
9. Eminem
Rapper Eminem bought BAYC #9055 for 123.45 ETH, which in December cost him $453,776. Now, the token would cost you $160,757.
Twitter user @Gee_Gazza, the original owner of the token, tweeted his thanks for the rapper’s purchase of the token and asked him to write the lyrics for his next song. From Pete Davidson’s “Saturday Night Live” skit explaining Eminem-esque NFTs, the rapper has launched a collection called SHADYCON on the NFT Nifty Gateway platform, featuring works inspired by the artist’s childhood and passion.
10. Tom Brady
Quarterback Tom Brady purchased BAYC #3667 in April 2022 for 133 ETH, or $453,062. Now, that’s about $173,187.
The legendary soccer player has made some big plays in the Web3 space, co-founding NFT’s Autograph company and launching his own collections there. Prior to that, Brady said that he and Gisele Bündchen bought shares in the FTX cryptocurrency exchange in June 2021. While he has not specifically revealed what he owns, he has confirmed that he has invested in cryptocurrencies.
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