Unreal Money, or Why Stars Invest in NFT

NFT or non-interchangeable tokens conquer the world of stars. Celebrities have been swept up in a digital gold rush. Despite the fact that tokens do not exist in reality, the rich do not stop investing in them. Last year, the value of the NFT market amounted to 16.5 billion pounds (about 1.7 trillion rubles).

Digital art is also gaining more and more popularity. For example, the collage Everydays: The First 5000 Days by the American artist Beeple was sold at auction for 50 million pounds (approximately 5.3 billion rubles). Find out why assets that can only be seen on the screen attract star investors so much.

Non-interchangeable tokens appeared in 2012. These are digital certificates of "ownership" of a work of art, a video, or even a tweet that can be purchased for cryptocurrency or unregulated digital currencies. They are stored in a blockchain - a digital wallet.

Interchangeable means replaceable. For example, banknotes can be exchanged for food and other goods. NFTs are non-interchangeable, so they cannot be exchanged for physical objects. Nevertheless, tokens can be bought and sold like houses and cars, although they do not exist in the real world. In fact, everyone has access and can even download a digital resource. But its owner is considered only the one who has a certificate of ownership or a unique token.

Futurists predict the emergence of a "new Internet" in the future, in which people will increasingly interact in virtual reality. That is why NFTs are becoming more popular. The stars of show business and sports also seek to get a share in tokens by controlling and monetizing their brands.

Kate Moss sold a gif image on which she sleeps for 12,500 pounds (about 1.3 million rubles).

American rap singer Grimes earned about 4 million pounds (about 417 million rubles) on sales of digital art.

Paris Hilton sold an NFT called Iconic Crypto Queen for 815,000 pounds (about 85 million rubles).

The rock band Kings Of Leon earned more than 1.6 million pounds (about 167 million rubles) by selling the latest album "When You See Yourself" as an NFT collection.

Singer Liam Payne launched his NFT collection last June. He recently announced on Twitter that he is opening a new account only for NFT news.

Football players are also active in the token market. Lionel Messi earned 743,000 pounds (about 77.5 million rubles) on his NFT.

Former Chelsea captain John Terry is collaborating with the Ape Kids Club app– a cartoon series about football-style monkeys. He even became the head coach of a virtual football team — the first football club in the blockchain. Terry introduces each of the "players"– a cartoon caricature of a monkey-on Twitter. On this he earned about 29,000 pounds (about 3 million rubles).

In February 2021, John Lennon's son Julian sold several Beatles memorabilia as tokens. Among them are Lennon's hat, his jacket and three guitars of legendary musicians. Paul McCartney's notes with phrases from the song "Hey Jude" are considered the most expensive. They have a starting price of 22,500 pounds (about 2.4 million rubles). At the same time, the future owner will not receive the thing in physical form, but only the ownership right to it.

Last year, a gif image of "Nyan Cat– - a meme of a flying cat with pop-tart cookies instead of a body, which became popular in 2011 — was sold for 365,000 pounds (about 38 million rubles).

Twitter creator Jack Dorsey sold the first ever tweet to NFT for 1.7 million pounds (about 177 million rubles). He donated this money to fight covid in Africa.

Tokens have also captured the art world. Pablo Picasso's relatives sold NFT one of the artist's ceramic works, which had not been publicly exhibited before.

The trading world is also passionate about unique tokens. The chain of British luxury department stores Selfridges has announced that it will become the first line of markets that will sell clothes only in digital form.

About ten outfits from Paco Rabanne 1966, worth from 2,000 to 100,000 pounds (from 208,500 to 10.5 million rubles), will be sold as NFT. Buyers will be given certificates of ownership of things, but not the clothes themselves.

But the token market is not so reliable. Their value is constantly changing, depending on demand, then rising, then falling. Experts say that it takes several more years to stabilize the NFT market. Investors are warned that they may lose their money, because they have no real guarantee.

Meanwhile, a 12-year-old schoolgirl from the United States earned $ 5.8 million on the sale of drawings in the NFT format. She created a collection of portraits of women with long necks.