US rapper and NFT whale Snoop Dogg (aka Cozomo de’ Medici on Crypto Twitter) has spent the most celeb-owned cash on a single non-fungible token, according to a new study of celebrity NFT purchases.
The research was conducted by CoinGecko, which is the world’s largest independent cryptocurrency data aggregator and from where Coinhead tends to grab daily, weekly and monthly price-performance statistics.
In its latest research, CoinGecko used data from block explorer and analytics platform Etherscan and NFT marketplaces OpenSea and SuperRare in an effort to reveal the most expensive NFT splurges by celebs since the start of 2021.
Why? Well, because why not – and because it’s always fun to highlight ridonculous celeb excess.
Here’s the Snoop-led list…
1. Snoop Dogg – Right Click and Save As guy ($7,088,229)
Mr Dogg is well known in NFT and crypto for having one of the largest, most valuable NFT collections around – celebrity or otherwise.
No, he hasn’t paid anything quite as much as the most expensive NFT ever sold, which was Beeple’s Everydays: The First 5000 Days, which fetched US$69m in March 2021. But his US$7m+ December 2021 purchase of Right Click and Save As guy, created by artist XCOPY is still pretty obscene.
💎 Right-click and Save As guy 💎
✨ Artwork by @XCOPYART
💰 Sold to @CozomoMedici for 1600.0 ETH ($7,022,000.00)https://t.co/Lxbn5pev9K$RARE #CryptoArt #NFT pic.twitter.com/ZQf2qxYHdo— SuperRare Bot 💎 (@SuperRareBot) December 9, 2021
By all reports, Snoop Dogg owns a shedload of NFTs including some that are considered among the rarest and most valuable, including CryptoPunks, Bored Apes, Fidenzas and another XCOPY piece bought for US$3.9million.
2. Gary Vee – CryptoPunk #2140 ($3,953,216)
American (actually most on this list are American) entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk, aka Gary Vee, is in second spot care of his CryptoPunk #2140 buy, which set him back US$3,953,216.
He actually paid the same amount in ETH as Snoop for the latter’s Right Click Save As guy purchase, but was an earlier adopter, getting in five months prior when the price of Ethereum was lower.
Vee is another avid NFT collector and has consistently managed to generate hype with his own creative forays into the space, including his cartoon-avatar collection called VeeFriends – a brand that was recently picked up by Macy’s and Toys’R’Us as a vehicle for plush toys and vinyl figurines.
At the time of writing, the floor price for CryptoPunks is US$85.19k
3. Justin Bieber – BAYC #3001 ($1,301,550)
Justin “I’m No Longer Mates With Kanye” Bieber is also right up there for digitally based celeb excess thanks to Bored Ape Yacht Club #3001, which he bought for $1,301,550 (500 ETH) in January this year.
The pop singer was widely ridiculed on Crypto Twitter at the time, with plenty of NFT nerds suggesting he’d overpaid for a Bored Ape with mere “common” traits and characteristics. The Bored Ape Yacht Club floor price at the time reflected this, as it was “only” about US$270,900, meaning Bieber probably paid more than four times what he needed to for his cartoon ape profile picture.
Also, according to this Twitter account, the highest offer for the first Bieber ape (he now has two), is currently US$101,571. Pfft… bear markets, eh?
In January of this year, Justin Bieber stated on his personal social media platforms that he had purchased the Bored Ape Yacht Collection (BAYC) 3001 for 500 ETH, or $1,301,550 at the time… and its greatest offer now is 75.75 ETH ($101,571). pic.twitter.com/vus2ckoZeC
— Marcos Viladomiu (@MarcosViladomiu) October 3, 2022
Rounding out the list
Here’s the rest of the top 10 celeb NFT rushes of blood to the head – what they paid and when.
4. DJ Steve Aoki – Doodle #2238 ($862,056), January 2022.
5. YouTuber/part-time boxer guy Logan Paul – K4M-1 #03 (US$624,669), February 2021.
6. Brazilian footballer Neymar Jr. – BAYC #5269 (US$569,531), January 2021.
7. Masked elctronic music producer Marshmello – CryptoPunk #8274 ($504,069), October 2021.
8. “Queen of pop” Madonna – BAYC #4988 (US$466,461), March 2022.
(Fancy being completely weirded out? Check out the NFT collection Madonna created with digital artist Beeple.)
9. Rapper Eminem – BAYC #9055 (US $453,776), December 2021.
10. NFL quarterback Tom Brady – BAYC #3667 (US$453,062), April 2022.
“Celebrities buying NFTs are testament to how NFTs have begun to intertwine with popular mainstream culture,” said COO and co-founder of CoinGecko, Bobby Ong. “Whether for investment purposes, used as a social signal or a means to gain access to exclusive communities, the NFT sector has a high growth potential that is still largely untapped today.”
Wonder how Logan Paul’s feeling about this “social signal”…
Popular YouTuber Logan Paul purchased this #NFT for $623,000 in 2021.
Today, it’s worth $10. pic.twitter.com/dp5mUxy0yJ
— Watcher.Guru (@WatcherGuru) October 10, 2022
Coinhead agrees with Ong’s sentiment, though. If you’ve been reading this Stockhead section for a while, you’ll know it’s very much on board with NFTs as a general concept, particularly as a gaming/metaverse asset-owning use case.
But there’s no denying that, in this depressed market, the froth has left the NFT space for the moment. A recent Bloomberg report, for instance, showed that trading volume for non-fungible tokens (NFTs) had dipped from US$17 billion in January to US$466 million in September, a massive 97% drop.
Perhaps some sort of meaningful macroeconomic shift before the end of the year can turn things around and bolster Snoop’s portfolio.
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