Category: NFTs

The latest edition of Floyd Mayweather’s NFT collection went live on August 13 with the champion boxer talking up cryptocurrency to encourage as many takers as possible to get on board.

“Everybody should have their own mind and choose what cryptocurrency they wanna choose,” Mayweather told Newsweek magazine ahead of the sale. “What I believe in is being independent and doing what you wanna do, and it’s about people winning in life. And I push people to be winners in life. ‘Cause I’m a winner.”

Mayweather’s Portfolio Now Worth More Than $1B

Mayweather has claimed his financial portfolio to be worth “over a billion dollars”, a substantial slice of it invested in cryptocurrency.

Cryptocurrency is the new wave, it’s what everybody’s doing. And if cryptocurrency is the new wave, you know what, be the best. I just want to say thank you to everyone who’s supported me throughout the years.

Floyd Mayweather

In what’s claimed to be the most comprehensive community program ever built, Floyd Mayweather World (FMW) is a collection of 11,111 NFTs underlining the now-retired boxer’s undisputed No 1 status (50 fights, zero losses).

Illustrated by renowned artist Rui Duarte, the FMW NFTs are stored as ERC-721 tokens on the Ethereum blockchain and hosted on IPFS. In the spirit of altruism, for each NFT sold on the primary market, 15 community meals will be donated (a total of 166,665 meals).

Each token sold also entitles the buyer to merchandise including signed gloves and photos, a replica belt, free passes to TMT (The Money Team) events and discounted TMT jewellery.

Mayweather Promoted His Coin EthereumMax at Bitcoin 2021

Ethereum-based cryptocurrency EthereumMax (EMAX) sponsored Mayweather in his June 6 fight against YouTuber and boxer Logan Paul, since described in at least one report as “the easiest $150 million ever made”.

The Mayweather collection has inspired fellow boxer Tyson Fury to launch his own NFTs celebrating his two world heavyweight titles. Fury has already made over US$1 million after partnering with artist George Rollo and FomoLabs to create his premium boxing NFTs.

The first of six open editions, Lineal by Tyson Fury, sold last month for an eye-watering US$987,000.

The NFT craze is officially out of its tree with a Bored Ape Yacht Club token selling this week for the equivalent of US$1.29 million, a new record price for the BAYC collection.

On August 11, BAYC #3749 – one of 69 in the current series – sold for 400 ETH on OpenSea. It last changed hands on July 16 for US$318,771, with the seller pocketing more than a million dollars’ profit in less than a month.

To put these prices in appropriately wacky context, a simple grey and black NFT of a “pet rock” sold for over US$100,000 earlier this month to emphasise the fact that prices for collectible tokens of dubious artistic merit are off the scale.

The distinctive BAYC #3749 NFT (above) was bought by OpenSea user Boothy, who also purchased BAYC #9507 for US$175,140 on August 9. What is claimed to make his latest buy unique is its combination of rare features: it’s one of 3 percent of Bored Apes that sport a black T-shirt and a sea captain’s hat, and one of 4 percent with a grin on its face. It’s also the only one of the series with laser eyes and one of 46 of the 69 with “solid gold” fur.

The BAYC collection launched in April with a minting price of between US$200 and $300 depending on gas fees. Other distinctive features of Apes in the collection include crucifix earrings and robot eyes. A dagger in the mouth can add more than 70 ETH (US$220,000) to the asking price of a single Ape.

The cartoonish simian traits are all randomly generated using an algorithm designed by Yugo Labs.

Bored Ape Yacht Club Donates 66 ETH to Orangutan Charity

Last week, Bored Ape Yacht Club donated 66.45 ETH (US$208,000) to Orangutan Outreach, making a total of US$850,000 it has gifted to the charity so far. The donation was made via an Ethereum transaction through crypto philanthropy platform The Giving Block.

Founded in 2007, Orangutan Outreach is a New York-based non-profit devoted to protecting orangutans in Borneo and Sumatra.

In further positive news involving otherwise seemingly frivolous tokens, NFTs are set to play a key role in wildlife conservation, specifically the endangered Seychelles magpie robin.

In the latest EtherRock NFT drop, a simple grey and black digital illustration of a “pet rock” has sold for over US$100,000.

EtherRock #33 is one out of a collection of 100 digital rock NFTs, but it isn’t just any rock. EtherRocks is a project that was launched just after CryptoPunks NFTs in 2017.

The EtherRock series is a collection of the first NFTs created and minted on the Ethereum blockchain, making them highly sought-after because of their crypto pedigree. The number one piece from the series, rock ID #0, has an asking price of 1000 ETH (a cool US$3 million).

Is NFT Mania Out of Hand?

Have people gone mad, or will these NFTs hold their value and stand the test of time? These virtual rocks serve no purpose beyond being able to be bought and sold, giving each owner little more than a sense of pride in being the owner of one of 100 rocks in existence.

All 100 out of 100 EtherRocks have been sold. The only way now to own an EtherRock is to buy it from an existing owner, when and if one is listed for sale.

Last week, Crypto News Australia reported the auction sale of the Steve Jobs’ Job Application, where the real-world piece sold for 15 times more than its NFT asset. The difference with high-calibre NFTs such as those derived from the EtherRock series is that these particular NFTs are priced on the perceived collectible value they hold. This is because they date back to the days when NFT mania was new. There is no real-world physical asset sold with these NFTs, just the status of owning a rare digital collectible.