Tom Brady, the quarterback for the New England Patriots and winner of seven Super Bowls, served as an ambassador for the FTX bitcoin and crypto exchange, According to New York Times.
He advertised the new company as the most reliable establishment in the cryptocurrency industry using a variety of platforms, such as a commercial shown during the Super Bowl, billboards, and a conference held by FTX in the Bahamas. FTX represented a considerable portion of Brady’s personal wealth.
FTX paid him $30 million as part of an endorsement agreement he signed with the company in 2021; the payment was nearly completely in the form of FTX shares. This arrangement was a component of the contract. Gisele Bundchen, who was his ex-wife and a supermodel, was given FTX shares for 18 million dollars.
FTX has been declared insolvent last year, and its founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, is being investigated for criminal fraud.
Customers of FTX have filed a lawsuit against Brady and Bundchen in an effort to get compensation from the celebrities who endorsed the exchange.
The predicament that Brady and Bundchen are in is representative of a bigger pattern in which celebrities who promoted cryptocurrencies or who invested in them are now dealing with the aftermath of the market for cryptocurrencies.
The list of famous individuals who have been embroiled in FTX controversies, including those related to cryptocurrency, is extensive and includes figures such as Paris Hilton, Snoop Dogg, Reese Witherspoon, Matt Damon, Kim Kardashian, Lindsay Lohan, Jake Paul, Soulja Boy, Lil Yachty, and Shaquille O’Neal.
In addition to these celebrities, FTX also attracted significant investment from institutional investors. Some of the most notable among these include Sequoia Capital, BlackRock, Tiger Global Management, SoftBank, and Temasek.
In 2021, Brady helped start the firm Autograph, which assists renowned persons in the process of selling nonfungible tokens (NFTs).
In a case that accuses celebrities of deceiving investors, Brady and Bundchen are among the celebrities named as defendants.
Larry David, Steph Curry, and Naomi Osaka are some of the other defendants in this case. All three of them supported FTX. Because they did not finalise possible arrangements with FTX, several celebrities, including Taylor Swift and Katy Perry, barely avoided becoming caught up in the crypto debacle.
According to a recent report by Cointelegraph Research, the volume of nonfungible tokens (NFTs) sold this year could eclipse $18 billion. From artwork, music and in-game characters to videos and photographs, these minted certificates of ownership for digital assets on blockchains are well sought after by collectors, investors and philanthropists alike. They can also be freely traded across decentralized NFT platforms such as OpenSea. Without further ado, let’s look at the biggest trends developing in the NFTs space.
1. Celebrity and contemporary NFTs
Of course, at the number one place this year, as there was no shortage of NFT drops and collaborations in the entertainment industry. Highlights include Mila Kunis’ Stone Cats NFTs drops, which sold out in about 35 minutes and caused soaring gas prices on the Ethereum blockchain to process the transactions.
In November, rapper and songwriter Snoop Dogg auctioned off a 3D collage consisting of 10 different portraits of himself at various stages in his professional career, with the winning bid amounting to 188 ETH (around $700,000). In mid-December, NBA star Kevin Durant announced a partnership between his firm Thirty Five Ventures and Coinbase to collaborate on NFT drops.
Then, there was director Quentin Tarantino announcing the auction of seven uncut scenes from Pulp Fiction as NFTs built on the privacy-oriented Secret Network. However, Tarantino may have had too much of an appetite in joining the hype, as productions company Miramax filed a lawsuit against Tarantino over alleged copyright infringement stemming from his NFT sale.
However, as directly rated by crypto enthusiasts, the most popular NFTs are those featuring “pixelated punks” created by artist Crypto Punks. The group currently holds the top sales volume on OpenSea.io with 750,300 Ether (ETH) worth of digital art (about $3 billion in today’s price) traded since its inception in 2017. Their success has also attracted partnerships and deals with top Hollywood agents.
Two Hitmen. An Iconic Director. An Academy Award Winning Script. You.
This is a rare opportunity to own a piece of film history. This #NFT offering can not easily replicated. pic.twitter.com/9RNu35NEVf
— Tarantino NFTs (@TarantinoNFTs) December 1, 2021
2. Play-to-earn NFT games
NFTs are not only meant to be displayed. One blockchain game, Axie Infinity, involves players dueling one another or nonplayable characters and completing daily quests with in-game creatures known as Axies. Each Axie is a unique NFT that can be bought and sold on the Ethereum blockchain. The minting of Axie NFTs is known as breeding in the game, with rarer Axies having better stats and subsequently costing far more. According to its official marketplace, the total volume of Axies bought and sold in the past 30 days amount to over 125,000 ETH, or around $500 million.
In addition, players can purchase virtual land NFTs in the game. Such digital real estate represents locations where monsters and bosses spawn, in addition to hosting an abundance of resources. The most expensive Axie Infinity land ever sold took place last month for 550 ETH ($2.3 million at the time).
✨A Genesis Land Plot just sold for 550 ETH!
That’s over 2.3 M USD!
Our player-owned Digital nation continues to shock the world pic.twitter.com/SVvAtFNYUF
— Axie Infinity (@AxieInfinity) November 24, 2021
Another popular choice is NFT fantasy soccer game Sorare. Through Sorare, players can manage their own soccer teams via digital player NFT cards. According to its CEO, Nicholas Julia, over half a million players joined the platform organically without marketing efforts.
3. Metaverse NFTs
Developments in the Metaverse, a digital realm comprising a 3D augmented reality, have been gaining traction ever since Facebook rebranded itself as Meta back in October. NFTs play a pivotal role in the Metaverse to guarantee the uniqueness of virtual assets such as player avatars. Meta’s head of Metaverse products, Vishal Shah, said in an announcement that the new platform “will make it easier for people to sell limited education digital objects like NFTs, display them in their digital spaces and even resell them to the next person securely.”
Right now, there is a massive 21-level skyscraper being built in the Metaverse by Bloktopia to pay homage to the maximum 21 million Bitcoin (BTC) that can ever be created. Notable consumer brands like Adidas and Nike are also entering the Metaverse, partnering with contributors to develop NFT artwork for their namesake brands. Above all, developers at virtual metaverse game Sandbox wish to defend the realm against the threat of monopoly from big tech.
Bloktopia in-game screenshot. Source: Bloktopia
4. NFT philanthropy
There has been significant growth in the number of charities accepting crypto donations in 2021. One platform facilitating such transactions, the Giving Block, saw donations surge to over $100 million this year, compared with $4 million for all of 2020. The firm is partnering with NFT platforms so a portion of auction proceeds can go directly into crypto non-profits, with direct NFT donations being a possible future development route. In the United States, investors can deduct their charitable donations directly against their ordinary income, usually over a few years, resulting in a win-win situation for all.
But, philanthropic ventures in the NFT realm go far beyond. Thus far, NFT auctions have helped raise enough funds to build a school in Uganda and support frontline healthcare workers. In 2022, an up-and-coming NFT auction will help raise awareness for contemporary artists with developmental disabilities. Meanwhile, the proceeds from another will go to a charity of choice by the former
Crypto Giving Tuesday Recap. Source: The Giving Block
5. NFT world art
With traditional art, artists have to travel around the world to participate in exhibits and auctions to make their work known — a privilege only reserved to those with sufficient capital. But, with the rise of decentralized NFTs marketplaces, anyone around the world can mint, showcase and sell their art with little startup capital, thereby connecting cultures worldwide.
Two notable mentions are the Melanated NFT Gallery and Mongol NFTs. Melanated NFT Gallery features contemporary African and Latinx artwork such as landscapes, photographs of jazz icon Miles Davis, DJ music, guitar audio, trading cards and other music. Meanwhile, the Mongol NFTs platform contains NFT images of pastoral nomadic steppes of the namesake country and its history, traditions and customs as told by Mongol artists. It has surpassed 100,000 registered users and 1.5 billion Mongolian Tugrik ($550,000) in sales.
Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs are proving to be a hit with celebrities.
The music world has led the trend, with Universal Music Group forming an all-ape Metaverse band.
Concierge service MoonPay has been pivotal in helping the rich and famous purchase Bored Ape NFTs.
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The list of celebrity Bored Ape Yacht Club purchases is growing longer, with several high-profile acquisitions over the past month.
Celebrities “Ape In”
The Bored Ape Yacht Club is quickly gaining popularity with the world’s rich and famous.
Over the past month, several big names have joined the list of celebrities publicly announcing Bored Ape purchases, bringing the total number of known celebrity owners to more than 20.
Sports Stars
Bored Apes have proven popular in the big leagues, with several NFL and NBA players joining the primate party. La Melo Ball of the NBA’s Charlotte Hornets appears to have been the first to buy a Bored Ape NFT back in June, and since then, he’s been joined by Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors. Several NFL players have also announced purchases, including Dez Bryant and Von Miller.
However, Tyrese Haliburton, the latest sports star to join the Bored Ape Yacht Club, has made use of the intellectual property rights that come with each ape, creating a pair of bespoke sneakers featuring his NFT.
— Sacramento Kings (@SacramentoKings) November 4, 2021
Haliburton flexed his new Bored Ape shoes when his team, the Sacramento Kings, faced off against the New Orleans Pelicans on Oct. 30. The Sacramento Kings won the match.
Musicians
The music world has seen the most Bored Ape adoption, with DJ Marshmello, rappers Lil Baby and KSI, producer Timbaland, and other artists such as Linkin Park’s Mike Shinoda all posting their Bored Ape purchases on social media. Some of the most notable names to announce purchases recently include rapper Post Malone, DJ Khaled, and Steve Aoki.
While musicians are content sporting Bored Ape profile pictures, others in the space have grander designs. Universal Music Group is planning to launch a band formed entirely of virtual apes called Kingship. The four Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs are set to be rendered in 3D by a team of animators and will perform across video games, virtual reality, and other realms of the Metaverse.
Kingship. Source: Universal Music Group
Not to be outdone, Bored Ape owner and fan Timbaland has announced he’s starting a new company called Ape-In Productions that will also use Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs to form a music group. A battle of the NFT bands could be on the cards in the future if both groups take off.
Influencers
Arguably the most high-profile ape purchase happened in November when television host and comedian Jimmy Fallon posted his Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT to his 51.4 million followers.
Like several other celebrities, including DJ Khaled, Lil Baby, and Post Malone, Fallon bought his Bored Ape through MoonPay, a concierge service set up to help high net worth individuals buy NFTs.
MoonPay handles the hassle of setting up a wallet, buying crypto, and purchasing from marketplaces, delivering NFTs straight to celebrities for a fee. As the NFT space can still be difficult to navigate for non-natives, MoonPay’s services have played a vital role in onboarding the rich and famous into the world of NFTs.
Additionally, auction houses like Christie’s and Sotheby’s have featured Bored Apes on multiple occasions, giving the NFTs more exposure to those with deep pockets.
As NFTs enter the mainstream, more and more influencers are looking to join the Bored Ape Yacht Club. This raises the question of how many of the current purchases have been organic or instead a modestly priced marketing stunt. For those holding Bored Ape NFTs, it probably doesn’t matter; floor prices are at an all-time high, and with several big names aping in, many are hoping the upward trajectory will continue.
Disclosure: At the time of writing this feature, the author owned ETH and several other cryptocurrencies.
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A new survey has revealed bleak insights into the apparent willingness of retail investors to follow digital asset advice from the social media accounts of celebrities and influencers.
According to a Morning Consultant survey of 2,200 U.S. adults, 45% of crypto-holding respondents indicated they would be likely to seek exposure to a digital asset if it is endorsed by a celebrity, compared to just 20% of participants overall.
There were some more promising results, with three-quarters of crypto investors indicating they were likely to invest based on a family member or friend’s recommendation while 81% would invest in response to advice from a financial advisor.
Almost 20% of all respondents and nearly one third of crypto owners said they were aware of a post published to Kim Kardashian’s Instagram account spruiking the ERC-20 token Ethereum Max (EMAX) in early June. An astonishing 19% of respondents who saw the Instagram ad admitted to having invested in Ethereum Max afterward — however they comprising just 3.8% of the overall sample.
The post and project have been embroiled in controversy ever since. The price of EMAX saw meteoric growth after being announced on May 26 as “the exclusive cryptocurrency accepted for online ticket purchasing” for the cash-grab boxing match between undefeated boxer Floyd Mayweather and YouTuber Logan Paul on June 6.
While EMAX had traded for as little as $0.00000000073 (nine zeros) prior to the announcement, news of its affiliation with the boxing event saw prices skyrocket above $0.00000085 (six zeros) by June 1 — a gain exceeding 116,000% in just one week.
After Ethereum Max then shed more than 99% of its value in under two weeks, Kardashian published the ad on June 13 to her 250 million followers that highlighted that 50% of EMAX tokens held by the project’s admin wallet had been burned.
While the token was trading as low as $0.0000000076 (seven zeros) before the Instragram post went live according to CoinMarketCap, EMAX rallied to $0.000000235 (six zeros) by June 14 — a 3,000% gain in less than two days.
EMAX has consistently trended downwards since mid-June, with the token last trading hands for $0.000000021(seven zeros) — a 91% drawdown from the local highs that followed Kim Kardashian’s Instagram endorsement.
The incident did not go unnoticed by financial regulators, with the head of the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority, Charles Randell, describing the Kardashian’s Instagram post as possibly the single “financial promotion with the biggest audience reach in history.” He added:
“I can’t say whether this particular token [Ethereum Max] is a scam. But social media influencers are routinely paid by scammers to help them pump and dump new tokens on the back of pure speculation. Some influencers promote coins that turn out simply not to exist at all.”
Kim Kardashian is not the first celebrity to draw the ire of financial watchdogs for promoting crypto assets to their social media followers, and unlikely to be the last too.
Related:Australian Watchdog Issues Warning on Fake Celebrity-Endorsed Crypto Ads
In 2018, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charged Floyd Mayweather and musician DJ Khaled unlawfully promoting the Centra initial coin offering (ICO) the previous year.
While the SEC has warned celebrities that they must disclose paid promotions for ICOs on social media, many celebrities are now spruiking their own nonfungible tokens amid the NFT boom.
Bitcoin is the one asset everyone in 2020 is talking about whether they are for or against the cryptocurrency. Naysayers are out in full force, and supporters are stronger than ever and growing by the numbers – even enlisting celebrities, hedge fund managers, and more.
Top analysts from both crypto and traditional finance, along with the asset’s biggest believers, expect each of the rare coins to reach prices of as high as $400,000. But why then do only 12% of Deutsche Bank clients responding to a crypto-related survey see the price per BTC reaching $100,000 or more? Are these clients way off, or are the recent skeptics of the stock-to-flow model correct, and the cryptocurrency will vastly underperform against expectations?
Contrarian Investing: Will Too Early Of Euphoria Preemptively Kill The Current Crypto Bull run
Some of the greatest investors the world has ever known built their fortune on contrarian strategies. Warren Buffett was an advocate of being fearful while others are greedy, and vice versa. Baron Rothschild is credited with the “buy the blood in the streets” quote. And John Templeton warned that “bull markets are born on pessimism, grow on skepticism, mature on optimism, and die of euphoria.”
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Black Thursday in 2020 was about as pessimistic as things could get for Bitcoin, an asset that for the first time was threatened with crashing to zero. It took shutting off derivatives platform BitMEX’s liquidation engine to stop the cascade effect causing the collapse.
Related Reading | Why Investors Are Spending Stimulus Checks To Buy Bitcoin
As the asset recovered ahead of its halving, crypto investors remained skeptical given the sudden impact on the global economy the pandemic had. Throughout the rest of the year, talk of Bitcoin “maturing” into a respected financial asset became the norm thanks to the digital gold narrative and the asset’s outperforming every other traditional asset in a year when money is needed most.
But are predictions for $400,0000 and beyond a sign that the market is becoming euphoric and is at risk of momentum dying out as Templeton suggests could happen? And is that why the bulk of Deutsche Bank survey respondents don’t see the cryptocurrency reaching beyond $100,000 or more per BTC?
12% of Deutsche Bank Survey Respondents Beleive Bitcoin Will Breach $100,000 In 2021
With the leading cryptocurrency by market cap top of mind for much of the world of finance, whether they are believers or not, it has caused a wider range of criticism from experts outside of the crypto industry norm.
Rather than listening to Willy Woo or Charles Edwards – respected Bitcoin analysts – traditional finance pays closer attention to analysts from Wall Street focused outlets they know and trust.
Deutsche Bank clients were questioned as part of a recent survey regarding their thoughts about where Bitcoin might be one year from now. The asset’s price next year is currently a hot button topic with a bull market seemingly underway.
However, the price predictions provided by the respondents paint a far less bullish picture than most. The majority do agree Bitcoin will trade higher in 2021, ranging between $20,000 and $49,999. Under one-third of respondents aren’t sold, and think that Bitcoin will be below $20,000 in 2021.
Related Reading | Bitcoin Dominance In December: Why The Future Of Altcoins Hinge On This Month’s Close
But only the smallest subset of 12% think the cryptocurrency that is expected to change the world will reach over $100,000 next year. Are the majority wrong, not the right audience to ask, or is there something to the data?
Bitcoin is cyclical and appears to follow a four-year bubble pattern due to the asset’s hard-coded halving mechanism. But because there are so few cycles prior, there’s not much to conclude other than coincidental cyclical behavior exists.
But if the limited data is enough to get investors to subscribe to the four-year theory, then couldn’t the same data and the theory of “diminishing returns” also be conceivable?
According to Deutsche Bank survey respondents, this is it for Bitcoin in 2021 | BTCUSD on TradingView.com
Bitcoin has according to its chart been in two major bull markets, with the third potentially beginning now. From the 2013 bull breakout to the 2014 peak, the cryptocurrency provided a return of 8972%. Dividing that ROI by 4.61 results in roughly 1950% – the exact ROI of the 2016 bull breakout to the $20,000 top.
Reducing the 1950% by another 4.61 for the exact percentage of diminishing returns predicts an ROI of roughly 420% more upside between 2020 and 2021 and a target of around $100,000 per BTC.
If this is true, the current euphoria isn’t yet tapped out, but the bull run might not make it to such heights until the next try, or based on the law of diminishing returns, several cycles away.
Featured image from Deposit Photos, Charts from TradingView.com
