Facepalm: The crypto crash has impacted a huge number of businesses and everyday people who invested in the industry. There are a lot of sad stories out there, but one person unlikely to receive much sympathy is Justin Bieber, whose $1.29 million NFT is now worth around $69,000.
The semi-randomly generated images of apes that make up the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) remain the most famous collection of non-fungible tokens. At the height of the NFT craze and before the crypto winter, celebrities, including Jimmy Fallon, were rushing to buy and promote them. We even saw a set sell at Sotheby’s for a frankly bewildering $24.4 million.
One of those to jump on the bandwagon was Justin Bieber. He paid $1.29 million for ape #3001 (top) in the collection, which, even when NFT prices were skyrocketing back in January, many said was too much. Undeterred, the “Baby” singer bought another Ape one month later for the much more sensible price of $400,000.
TerraUSD and support coin Luna crashed in May, wiping almost $1 trillion off the crypto markets. Prices never recovered, and investors were dealt another blow earlier this month when crypto exchange FTX imploded, leading to lawsuits.
Justin Bieber bought this NFT for $444k. We posted this picture of the same NFT for free. pic.twitter.com/wXM8VIdiNE
— Market Rebellion (@MarketRebels) February 4, 2022
The turbulence has impacted the value of NFTs. Decrypt reports that the floor price—the lowest price you can buy a piece from a specific collection—for Bored Apes crashed to $60,000 following the FTX incident. It has improved slightly since then but is still at $69,000, a far cry from the all-time high of $429,000 in April. Both of Bieber’s Apes are sitting at the floor price, meaning that in the case of the $1.29 million jpg, he’s lost around 95% of his money in that investment.
Unlike most other people impacted by the crypto/NFT crash, Bieber is unlikely to be too upset by his loss, given that he’s worth around $200 million.
Despite many companies distancing themselves from NFTs recently, some haven’t given up on non-fungible tokens. LG said in September that it was bringing NFTs to its smart TVs so owners can discover, buy, sell and trade the “high-quality artwork” directly from the televisions. Elsewhere, Square Enix announced Symbiogenesis last month, a browser-based game for PC and mobile—the start of a franchise—that uses NFT digital art.
h/t: Kotaku
