American Celebrity Kevin Hart Suffers Loss of More Than 66 ETH in Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT Auction
Kevin Hart, the American actor and comedian, has sold his Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFT at a significant loss. The NFT was sold for 13.2 ETH, which represents an 83% drop from its original purchase price.
The BAYC collection is a popular NFT collection that features 10,000 cartoonish apes with different traits. It was created by Yuga Labs, a blockchain tech startup, and is stored on the Ethereum blockchain using the ERC-721 token standard. BAYC has been the leading Ethereum-based collection for quite some time.
Kevin Hart purchased the Bored Ape #9258 for 79.5 ETH in early 2022. The NFT features an angry-looking ape with dark brown fur, a spinner hat, and a traditional Cuban shirt. At the time of his purchase, the BAYC collection had gained a cult-like following, with many individuals, including celebrities, buying the digital assets through the crypto payment platform MoonPay.
However, in December 2022, Yuga Labs faced a class action lawsuit in the United States. The lawsuit alleged that the startup had collaborated with celebrities like Justin Bieber, Snoop Dogg, Madonna, and Paris Hilton to promote the BAYC collection, violating state and federal laws. Additionally, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission had also initiated an investigation into Yuga Labs over allegations of facilitating the unregistered offering of the BAYC collection.
Now, Kevin Hart’s investment in the expensive BAYC NFT has resulted in a significant loss. Based on the price of ETH at the time of purchase, the Bored Ape was valued at over $246,400. However, the recent sale by Kevin Hart has brought down the value of the NFT to around $44,800, considering the current value of ether.
This latest sale, along with other factors, has raised the question of whether NFTs are dead. The depreciation in engagement within the NFT ecosystem and the significant drop in prices of some NFTs have led to speculations about the death of NFTs. However, the vitality of NFTs depends on their utilities. NFT collections like Pudgy Penguins, for example, have risen to become one of the top four NFT projects on the Ethereum network due to their utility.
Tags: NFTs
