Since the 2021 NFT summer, mainstream celebrities have forayed into Web3 and crypto, but most have ditched the industry for other endeavors, while others still hold assets.
Data provided by Arkham Intelligence showed that the five celebrities with crypto holdings and the most followers on Elon Musk’s X primarily held Ether (ETH), or NFTs.
Ex-U.S. President and Republican candidate Donald Trump boasted the highest digital asset net worth, valued at $7 million. Trump’s biggest holding was around $5.1 million in proceeds from the NFT collection titled TRUMP, but a corridor for more digital asset associations could open.
Trump recently hinted that his campaign may accept crypto donations as the U.S. holds elections later this November and engaged industry voices regarding policy matters.
Pop star Justin Bieber was second with $451,000 in blockchain assets, of which $433,000 was domiciled in ETH. However, Bieber’s last activity was two years ago and linked with Yuga Labs’ Otherside project on the NFT marketplace OpenSea.
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Soccer star Neymar and comedians Jimmy Fallon and Kevin Hart ranked third, fourth, and fifth, respectively. According to Arkham, the trio has crypto net worths of $56,000, $113,000, and $40,000.
Celebrities on Arkham
We’ve labeled over 100 celebrities with more than 1M X followers. The top 5 by followers:
Justin Bieber ($450K in crypto)
Donald Trump ($6.4M)
Neymar Jr. ($56K)
Jimmy Fallon ($113K)
Kevin Hart ($40K)More data below: pic.twitter.com/mQOeoTX6zw
— Arkham (@ArkhamIntel) May 13, 2024
During the NFT peak, celebrities such as Bieber and Fallon made headlines for purchasing blue-chip collectibles like the Bored Ape Yacht Club for millions in ETH. The trend also buoyed platforms like MoonPay, which offered a concierge-esque service to popular figures interested in the speculative digital collectibles markets.
Three years later, NFT markets have become a backburner sector for the industry, and over 95% of these collections are now worthless. Regulators like the SEC have pursued known creators.
Projects like Dapper Labs and Ashton Kutcher’s Stoner Cats have been sued for allegedly selling unregistered securities to vulnerable investors.
Read more: SEC secretly investigated NFT developer Dapper Labs in 2023
