Celebrity NFT Owners — Which Celebrities Purchased NFTs?

Kryss
CryptobrosResearch
Published in
11 min readJul 21, 2022

The NFT wave transformed the way we look at digital art in 2021, and several NFT collections popular with celebrities, such as the CryptoPunks and the Bored Ape Yacht Club, hit new all-time highs in 2022.

Celebrity NFT purchasers paying hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not millions, for a non-fungible token continue to make headlines. Many projected that the euphoria would fade, but NFTs have beaten crypto as of mid-2022, and celebrity NFT investors, if they did not sell, will be ahead of the game.

In this article, we’ll look at 10 of the most famous celebrity NFT owners and the NFTs they purchased.

Celebrity NFT Owners

There has been a flood of tweets from celebrities claiming ownership of NFT digital art. Some have even ventured into the NFT world, supporting NFT collections or launching their own celebrity NFT platform.

Other celebrities are monetizing their creativity by tokenizing their music, movies, pictures, and event ticket access. Let’s take a deep dive into the backgrounds of each celebrity that purchased NFT tokens to find out who has skin in the game.

Bored Ape Yacht Club — Timbaland

Timbaland, born Timothy Zachery Mosley, is a record producer, singer-songwriter, and rapper. Timbaland has a deep enthusiasm for music and has contributed to the albums of various well-known performers. The Grammy winner has created several singles for prominent musicians such as Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg, Ginuwine, and Ludacris.

Timbaland purchased Bored Ape #590 to join the highly rare Bored Ape Yacht Club — there are 10,000 Bored Ape NFTs and they are the most costly NFTs on the market in terms of blue chip NFT collections, along with CryptoPunks. Higher bids have only been received for particular NFT art pieces by artists such as Beeple and Pak.

Number 590 is a five trait ape that wears a golden cardigan, dark brown sunglasses, and a golden chain to complete his style. He was able to obtain his monkey for 74.69 ETH, which is almost $220,000 at the current Ethereum pricing.

But that’s not the most important news. Timbaland announced the beginning of his next endeavor, Ape-In Productions, in a tweet. That’s an entertainment firm working with Yuga Labs to provide a platform for developing music and animation for metaverse apps.

“We’ve established a new entertainment platform in the metaverse that puts creative control and long-term ownership back in the hands of artists, a notion that is tremendously important to us,” Timbaland said in a statement.

So Timbaland is not only a celebrity Bored Ape NFT owner, but he’s also showed an interest in blockchain technology and the impending Otherside metaverse.

Which other Celebrities bought BAYC NFTs:

  • Eminem
  • Justin Bieber
  • Snoop Dogg
  • Paris Hilton
  • Neymar Jr.

KaijuKing — Marshmello

Marshmello, the prominent electronic music producer and DJ, is another well-known celebrity NFT owner who owns numerous. Christopher Comstock, the artist, rose to prominence in 2015 and now has multiple songs that are top hits today, with several surpassing one billion views on YouTube.

Marshmello was a covert NFT whale for a time before changing his Twitter profile photo to a CryptoPunk. The artist added a KaijuKing NFT to his portfolio in October 2021, which is believed to be worth more than $1 million. His KaijiKing #1680 is one of 3,333 NFTs in his collection and was acquired for 5.88 ETH, which is comparable to $17000 today.

In addition to KaijuKing, Marshmello is a celebrity Bored Ape NFT owner who also owns CrypToadz, Wicked Craniums, and other CryptoPunks. The most valuable NFT in his collection is thought to be CryptoPunk #8274, which sold for a whopping $427,000.

Punks NFT owners, both regular and celebrity, have a particularly fashionable reputation in the NFT community, since their vintage pixellated art style has cult appeal and is regarded as one of the ‘OG’ collections, initially produced by Larva Labs and then bought by Yuga Labs.

Notably, it is not simply the art of NFTs that fascinates this artist, but the art in conjunction with the community.

Marshmello stated in a tweet, “This is my fave part about NFTs.” A lot of fantastic fan art is being created.”

CloneX — Steve Aoki

We can’t talk about record producers in the NFT sector without mentioning Steve Aoki. As many people are aware, Aoki is a record producer, music programmer, and DJ. He is well renowned for his “experiential” live performances, and he has a significant impact in the streaming market, with over 15 million monthly Spotify streams.

Steve acquired his first CloneX NFT on December 14, 2021 for 13.95 ETH (about $42,500 at the time of writing). The NFT is #2004 of a run of 20,000 Clone X NFTs and is as unique as they come. An octopus cap, a black respirator mask, a graphic black shirt, purple eyes, and a happy sticker on the forehead are some unusual characteristics.

Aoki also has NFTs from the Bored Ape Yacht Club, VeeFriends, and Doodies collections in his wallet. He has about 200 NFTs in total and is a renowned NFT collector. But it’s not simply NFT art that appeals to this artist; it’s a lot more.

Aoki believes that NFTs will usher in a revolution, notably in the music business, by transferring control away from record companies and back to the artists.

In addition, he stated, “As music NFTs become more of a part of how we integrate and support artists, labels will have to do more than simply add the song to a playlist.”

Clearly, Aoki has a far larger vision for NFTs, while being a celebrity NFT collector himself.

World of Women — Reese Witherspoon

Nobody is surprised that the cryptocurrency and NFT markets are dominated by men, with male purchasers accounting for over 80% of all NFT purchases.

Yam Karaki established the World of Women NFT collection with the intention of fostering equitable participation by all genders. Reese Witherspoon joined this project in October by purchasing World of Women #8072 at 2.8 ETH ($9000).

Her collection includes 108 NFTs from various projects, in addition to many World of Women NFTs. Unlike some celebs, Witherspoon is undoubtedly one of the most involved in the space. Witherspoon launched her connection with World of Women through her firm Hello Sunshine a few months ago.

The firm plans to create a character world and expand into media production with feature films and TV shows. Live events will also be held to educate women about the opportunities available in the NFT arena.

Witherspoon further on the collaboration, saying, “We’re pleased to join with WoW to expand their world of characters and to generate unique scripted and unscripted entertainment.”

“We look forward to interacting with the extraordinary WoW community at every stage of this cooperation and offering chances for WoW holders to collaborate with Hello Sunshine on developing WoW art into impactful stories.”

There’s a lot to look forward to with WoW and its potential new NFT initiative, with luminaries like Reese Witherspoon as NFT celebrity owners.

Which other Celebrities hold a World of Women NFT:

  • FaZe Banks
  • Huda Kattan
  • Shonda Rhimes
  • Sebastien Borget

Doodles — Pranksy

Any list of celebrity NFT owners and ‘NFT whales’ would have to mention the anonymous NFT whale Pranksy. While no one knows his or her identity, they became somewhat of an NFT celeb with their many purchases.

According to NFT communities on the internet, Pranksy has the largest NFT collection on the entire planet. This avid celebrity NFT collector has around 35,000 NFTs in their wallet on OpenSea.

Pranksy added a Doodle to his NFT collection in January of this year for a record-breaking value of 296.69 ETH. They now have 71 Doodles NFTs in their collection, which totals approximately 34,000 NFTs. Pranksy also holds NFTs from popular collections like as Decentraland, CryptoKitties, SuperRare, and WomenRise.

The famous NFT owner began with a little investment of $600 and worked their way up to a beautiful collection worth millions. The pseudonymous collector now has a sizable following on Twitter, with around 400k followers.

Pranksy claimed in an interview that consumers gain more than they expected from the NFT market, hence the business is rising. In this expanding industry, Pranksy has also launched a handful celebrity NFT initiatives, like NFTBoxes.

Which other Celebrities bought Doodles NFTs:

  • GaryVee
  • Treeverse

Mutant Ape Yacht Club — Lil Baby

In the footsteps of Snoop Dogg and Jay-Z, LilBaby has entered the realm of NFTs. The American rapper has over 26 million monthly Spotify streams and is also highly famous on Instagram, where he has about 19 million followers.

LilBaby became a celebrity Bored Ape NFT owner last fall after he mutated a Bored Ape, Bored Ape #129.

To evolve into a Mutant Ape, a Bored Ape must be combined with M2 serum. Number #10259 is his new Mutant Ape. The original Bored Ape cost 37.99 ETH, which was comparable to $170,000 at the time of purchase.

LilBaby has 23 additional celebrity NFT purchases, including NFTs from Crypto Cannabis Club, Doodles, DeadFellaz, and Little Lemon Friends, in addition to being one of numerous celeb MAYC owners.

Which other Celebrities own a MAYC NFT:

  • Steve Aoki
  • Shaq (Shaquille O’Neal)
  • Mike Shinoda
  • Jimmy Fallon
  • Snoop Dogg

Azuki — Lakshmi Manchu

This year has seen a slew of newcomers to the NFT arena, including Lakshmi Manchu. Lakshmi Manchu is a producer and actress who has worked in both Telugu cinema and American television.

The actress made her first NFT purchase in January with the Azuki NFT line. She paid 3.3 ETH (about $10,000) for Azuki #4272. “I was quite anxious as this is my first NFT and I can’t claim I know what this new meta universe is,” Lakshmi said in a statement. “But it definitely is thrilling and I’m in love with my character.”

She also posted the following after using her first NFT as her Twitter profile photo. “Excited by my #NewNFTProfilePic is a @AzukiZen who is literally the metaverse me. We can see where the project goes now.” Where is my #Azuki family? ”

“Ownership of the Azuki NFT will give me exclusive access to the material, which will be made available subsequently to Azuki owners.” This material might take the shape of games, short tales, or other digital assets.” Lakshami has made it very obvious that she has intentions for NFTs beyond ownership.

It’s amazing to see all of the opportunities that the world of NFTs provides for developers.

CryptoPunks — Heidi Klum

Heidi Klum, like many other celebrities, has entered into the realm of NFTs with the purchase of a CryptoPunk. Heidi is a supermodel, television personality, and producer. Many people are familiar with her from the television talent program America’s Got Talent.

In December of last year, the actress acquired CryptoPunk #3653. She paid 80 ETH (about $260,000) for the NFT. Despite the fact that the NFT has been traded seven times and changed hands, one may conclude it has finally found the proper home.

Surprisingly, the Punk looks a lot like the celebrity NFT owner, especially with the blonde hair. Heidi also owns the heidiklumofficial.eth ENS domain and has 8 more NFTs in her possession, according to DappRadar.

Heidi thanked the NFT community for their support, writing on Twitter, “I’m incredibly thankful of the love within the NFT community.” I never anticipated this level of assistance, and I can’t wait to learn more.”

Which other Celebrities purchased CryptoPunks:

  • Jay-Z
  • Serena Williams
  • Jason Derulo
  • Faze Banks
  • Logan Paul

Alien Frens — Justin Bieber

Justin Bieber, perhaps one of the most well-known individuals on this list, is also a well-known investor in the NFT market. Justin shook up the NFT space by purchasing an Alien Frens NFT immediately after “dropping” 500 ETH on a Bored Ape NFT.

The Alien Frens NFT cost him 2 ETH, and when word of his celebrity NFT purchases spread, the Alien Frens floor price immediately jumped to 3 ETH.

Bieber added the Alien Fren #8591 to his vast collection of celebrity NFT purchases, which now includes significant projects like BAYC, Clone-X, MAYC, Doodles, and World of Women.

However, the internet was not very supportive of Bieber’s acquisition of his Bored Ape.

Many admirers and NFT investors pointed out that he purchased an NFT with “no unusual qualities” for five times its cost. Though the criticism is valid, it is nevertheless true that Bieber is one of the most renowned collectors of NFTs, at least among celebrities.

VeeFriends — Logan Paul

While movie stars have made news for their cryptocurrency purchases, YouTubers, who are digital online superstars in their own way, are not far behind. Logan Paul’s name has been trending on everyone’s Twitter feed. The inventor, who has over 23 million YouTube subscribers, has spent over $3 million dollars on non-fungible coins.

To add to his enthusiasm, he’s about to launch his own celebrity NFT line, for which he’ll tokenize 99 photos taken with his Polaroid camera as NFTs.

Logan purchased 90 ETH on a VeeFriends NFT in January, saying in a tweet, “Just put 90 Eth ($290k) on this 1/1 holographic @VeeFriends because I believe in @GaryVee as a real inventor and visionary in the NFT field.”

Thoughtful Three Horned Harpik is the name of the NFT he purchased, which is a doodle-like hand design on a holographic background.

Logan has been quite outspoken about his love collecting digital treasures, such as NFTs and Pokemon cards, during the previous few years. It’s even more obvious when you look at his OpenSea collection, which contains over 4.8k NFTs, including several popular ones.

The YouTuber definitely understands variety because his collection contains NFTs from well-known projects like CryptoPunks, BAYC, WoW, MoonCats, and 0N1 Force. Logan Paul is clearly one of the most important players in the NFT sector right now.

Which other Celebrities bought VeeFriends:

  • Beeple
  • Steve Aoki
  • Gary Vaynerchuk, the creator, owns a collection valued at $68 million
  • Marshmello

The allure of NFTs has spread across every sector. Celebrities have also jumped on the NFT bandwagon, including athletes like Colin Kaepernick, artists like DJ Khaled, and actresses like Gwyneth Paltrow.

If there’s one thing we’ve learned over the last several years, it’s that the NFT train isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Because of blockchain technology, NFTs have transformed the way we think about digital art and, more significantly, asset ownership. On a regular basis, new and intriguing NFT initiatives are currently being introduced.

NFTs have a bright future. While NFTs may appear to be just another investment option for some customers, they may eventually transform the way we interact with and consume information.

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