Celebrities that have entered the NFT world（like owning BAYC）

[TL;DR]

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1. The NFT BAYC (Bored Ape Yacht Club) collection explained in detail
- What types of NFT art are there: 10,000 of them?
- What is so valuable about the Bored Ape Yacht Club?
2. Example of 5 celebrities who have entered the NFT world
- Lionel Messi
- Steph Curry
- Jimmy Fallon
- Gunna
- Shawn Yue Man-lok


You can't avoid it: someone is always talking about NFTs, the Metaverse, or why cryptocurrency is the future of money. And, since the release of Bored Ape Yacht Club, CryptoPunks, and other well-known NFTs, the digital art world has grown considerably.

Whether it's a co-worker, a family member, or a global superstar like Leo Messi, it seems that everyone, everywhere is following the trend. BTS, the K-pop supergroup, is reportedly about to launch its own collection. Here are some of the biggest celebrities in Hong Kong and around the world who have jumped on the NFT fashion bandwagon.

1. The NFT BAYC (Bored Ape Yacht Club) collection explained in detail

BAYC, one of the most successful non-fungible token collections, was launched in April and consists of 10,000 bored monkeys. Currently, the maximum price you can pay for one of them is 49 ethers ($231,000). They often sell for much more. The creators of the collection have just signed a deal with Adidas, and a monkey from the Club was featured on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine last month.

The Bored Ape Yacht Club, like all things NFT, is divisive. Those who own and trade NFT art are envious of the monkey owners, but those who don't are confused and suspicious. Some of its success is due to the art, but most is not.


- What types of NFT art are there: 10,000 of them?

In general, there are two types of NFT art. First, there are the unique works of visual art that are sold as NFT, in the same way that paintings are sold in real life. This is the case with the Beeple NFT, which fetched $69 million at Christie's. Then there are the NFT collections, or "projects", such as the Bored Ape Yacht Club. These collections are similar to Pokémon cards in that they take a pattern and generate hundreds or thousands of variants, each ranked in terms of rarity. In the case of BAYC, there are 10,000 monkeys, each with a unique set of "properties" such as fur, facial expressions, clothing, accessories, etc.

BAYC is the second largest NFT project after CryptoPunks. CryptoPunks is a 2017 collection of 10,000 8-bit avatars that derives much of its value from being the original NFT collection. The most common ones are worth about 100 ethers, or $500,000.


- What is so valuable about the Bored Ape Yacht Club?

This is a difficult question. The short answer is that, as with art in the real world, value is entirely subjective.

Let's start at the beginning. A team of four pseudonymous developers, Gargamel, Gordon Goner, Emperor Tomato Ketchup and No Sass, released Bored Ape Yacht Club at the end of April. All 10,000 copies were sold in 12 hours at a price of 0.08 Ether, or about $190. The price graph below (the price on the Y-axis is in ether) shows that the price rose steadily from April to July before peaking in August.

The first is obvious. When celebrities own digital TV sets, it encourages others to do the same. Jimmy Fallon is the most recent example. On November 8, the Tonight Show host bought a BAYC (for a cool $145,000) and used it as his profile picture on Twitter, where he has 50 million followers.

Second, consider utility. Most NFT projects claim to offer some sort of utility, whether it's access to games to win or the ability to wager an NFT in exchange for a cryptocurrency.
To keep owners interested, the Bored Ape Yacht Club has done several things. First, it created the Bored Ape Kennel Club, which allows owners to "adopt" an NFT dog with features similar to those of the annoying monkeys. Another gift arrived in August: digital vials of mutant serum. Owners can combine their Bored Ape with the serum to create a Mutant Ape, another NFT. The Kennel Club and Mutant Ape NFTs are selling well, with the highest prices around $14,000 and $26,000 respectively.

The final and most important aspect is the community that has formed around a collection. Bored Ape Yacht Club meetings have been held in New York and California, as well as in Hong Kong and the UK. A weekend of festivities for owners was recently held in New York, including an actual yacht party and a concert with Chris Rock, Aziz Ansari and The Strokes.

2. Example of 5 celebrities who have entered the NFT world

After the cryptocurrency craze, NFTs (Non-fungible tokens) are now all the rage. Everyone from Hollywood stars to sportsmen to Bollywood celebrities are now disposing of their digital memories via NFTs. For those unfamiliar with NFTs, they are a type of digital asset that uses the blockchain to record ownership of digital objects such as images, videos and other historical and valuable collectibles.


- Lionel Messi

Metaverse or rather Messiverse is a better de_script_ion. Lionel Messi, dubbed "the best footballer in the world", will launch his NFT collection in August 2021. Three pieces of digital art have been included in the collection: "Man from the Future", "Worth the Weight" and "The King Piece", all created by artist BossLogic and depicting historic moments in the footballer's career. His fame was highlighted when sales of the NFTs soared to US$3.4 million on their first day of release.

Steph CurryImage Source: currencies/steph-curry-nft-bored-ape-yacht-club

Golden State Warriors star Steph Curry has personally released a collection of 2,974 NFTs, each priced at US$333. Curry's collection includes digital replicas of his shoe line, Genesis Curry Flows, which features the exact pairs he wore for his incredible on-court exploits. The virtual trainers promise to be used and displayed by his fans across multiple metaverses and virtual games, despite the fact that the collection is already sold out.

- Jimmy Fallon

Jimmy Fallon, host of The Tonight Show, is a long-time member of the NFT family. Fallon took to Twitter to announce the latest addition to his collection: a simple Bored Ape dressed in what appears to be a sailor's outfit. The NFT was purchased for just over $225,000 USD.


- Gunna

Atlanta rapper Gunna is the latest in the rap scene to purchase his own unique BAYC NFT. Gunna revealed his purchase and tattoo process on Instagram, posting a video of how he got it done for $300,000 USD using the cryptocurrency MoonPay. His devotion to the digital artwork is so strong that he named the bored monkey in the green sun "Butta" and had it tattooed on his calf.


- Shawn Yue Man-lok

Shawn Yue Man-lok, a Hong Kong actor and singer, has entered the world of NFT through a collaboration with Christie's. The former model has amassed his personal collection, which will be auctioned online in September 2021. Highly sought-after NFT pieces from Bored Ape Yacht Club, Cryptopunks and Meebits have been included in the collection. Yue celebrated her 40th birthday on the day, while raising funds for the Make-a-Wish Hong Kong Foundation.

Conclusion

In March, Christie's auction house sold a work of art by cryptocurrency artist Beeple (Mike Winklemann) for a whopping $69.3 million. This sale not only put Winklemann's name on the map, but also brought attention to the NFT industry and its potential value, both financially and as a new and innovative way to generate artistic expression. As NFT collections became more and more common in art galleries, fashion brands, iconic retail companies and art scenes, a growing number of artists took notice and decided to create their own NFTs. Celebrities have begun to join the ranks of those working with NFTs, having created an NFT with a company or in collaboration with an artist.



Author: Victor KOMBOU, Gate.io Researcher
This article represents only the views of the researcher and does not constitute any investment suggestions.
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