๐ค Intro: From Gold Rush to JPEG Dust
There are bubbles, there are hype trains, and then there was the NFT explosion. Between 2020 and 2022, NFTs (non-fungible tokens โ basically certificates saying you owned a digital file) went from crypto-nerd obscurity to front-page news. Overnight, digital monkeys, pixelated punks, and cartoon lions were being sold for house prices.
Every celeb under the sun jumped in. Tech bros called themselves โpioneers.โ Everyday fans were told โthis is the future of art, music, gaming, even your life, bro.โ
And then? ๐ฅ
Like a soggy tent at Download Festival, the whole thing collapsed. Prices plummeted. Floor values (the minimum price an NFT collection trades for) went through the floorboards. People who bragged about owning โdigital Rolexesโ now had digital regrets.
This is their story. And in true Riff Report style, weโre gonna laugh, roast, and pour a pint out for the poor sods who lost fortunes on pixelated tat. ๐บ
๐ญ The Celebrity Victims: Millionaires Who Still Got Rinsed
NFTs werenโt just for crypto nerds. No, mun โ Hollywood, sports stars, rappers, and influencers all piled in. Some bought apes, some launched their own projects, and someโฆ got destroyed.
Justin Bieber โ The Lonely Ape ๐ต๐ถ
Justin Bieber bought Bored Ape #3001 in January 2022 for ยฃ1.1 million. The ape wasnโt even that rare. Today? Itโs valued at around ยฃ47k โ a drop of over 95%.
For context, thatโs like headlining Glastonbury and only 20 people turn up. Painful.
Bieber flexed it on Instagram, fans cheered, and then the market collapsed. Now his apeโs worth less than a second-hand Ford Fiesta. He mightโve sung โIs it too late now to say sorry?โ but the blockchain donโt accept apologies, lad.
Logan Paul โ The CryptoZoo Disaster ๐ผ๐
Ah, Logan Paul. YouTubeโs golden boy of chaos. He bought an NFT for ยฃ490k. Today? Around ยฃ8. Yes, EIGHT. Thatโs less than a pint of Brains at your local. ๐บ
But thatโs not all. He launched his own NFT project called CryptoZoo โ โan entertaining game that makes you money,โ he said. Fans invested millions. The game never worked. Lawsuits followed.
Logan tried to distance himself, but he became the poster boy for NFT failure. Imagine buying tickets to see Iron Maiden and ending up watching a local covers band in the pub โ thatโs CryptoZoo.
Snoop Dogg โ The JPEG Godfather ๐๐จ
Uncle Snoop went full NFT. He claimed to be anonymous NFT whale โCozomo deโ Medici.โ He dropped NFT albums, bought digital real estate in The Sandbox, and hyped NFTs harder than his own weed line.
But hereโs the rub: most of his NFTs are now worthless. His labelโs โNFT mixtapesโ? Collecting dust. The Sandbox? Empty. Even Snoop had to admit not all NFTs were โdope.โ
Turns out, not even the Doggfather can keep JPEGs cool.
Steve Aoki โ The NFT DJ Set Nobody Wanted ๐ง
Steve Aoki went all in. He said he made more money in one year from NFTs than from 10 years of music. He even dropped โA0K1VERSEโ passes โ giving fans exclusive access to his world.
But when the NFT crash hit, so did the Aoki floor. His investments tanked, and fans realised theyโd basically paid hundreds of pounds for a JPEG and a Discord link.
Aoki hyped, Aoki dumped, and Aoki learned the hard way: you canโt remix market crashes.
Eminem & Others ๐ค
- Eminem bought a Bored Ape, pairing it with his Slim Shady persona. Safe to say, not his best collab.
- Paris Hilton hyped NFTs on Jimmy Fallonโs show, flashing her ape once valued around ยฃ200k. Audience reaction? Dead silence. ๐
- Reese Witherspoon declared NFTs were โthe future of storytelling.โ Mate, more like the future of tragic endings.
๐ผ The Tech Bros: โWeโre All Gonna Make Itโโฆ Except They Didnโt
The NFT boom created a new breed of wannabe rockstars: the tech bros. They strutted around Twitter like they were James Hetfield inventing thrash. Instead, they were Nickelback with a blockchain.
- Crypto Whales: Spent millions sweeping NFT collections. When prices tanked, they lost millions. Imagine buying all the merch at a gig only to find the band split the next day.
- Founders: Launched NFT projects with grand promises โ โmetaverse concerts,โ โNFT houses,โ โnext-gen games.โ Most rugged, disappeared, or flopped harder than a Muse concept album.
- VC Investors: Threw silly money at NFT start-ups. Now those firms are worth less than a bag of chips.
The lesson? You canโt code culture. You canโt mint community. And you definitely canโt sell 10,000 versions of the same cartoon monkey and call it art.
๐คก The Everyday Degens: Horror Stories From the Blockchain
This is where it gets tragic and hilarious. Everyday people thought theyโd get rich. Instead, they got rekt.
Mortgage Meltdowns ๐ ๐
People literally remortgaged homes to buy into โblue-chipโ NFTs like Bored Apes. At peak, Apes were selling for hundreds of thousands of pounds. Today? Tens of thousands. Thatโs a house deposit gone โ on a cartoon monkey.
Tuition Tears ๐๐ญ
Students spent student loan money on NFTs. Pixel Penguins, Lazy Lions, Cool Cats โ all hyped on Discord. Now? Worth less than a kebab after a night out in Cardiff.
Rug Pulls ๐
So many projects promised the world. โWeโre building a metaverse game.โ โWeโre the next Pokรฉmon.โ Within weeks, devs ran off with the cash. Investors were left with worthless tokens and broken Discords.
The Million-Pound Rock ๐ชจ
One infamous buyer spent ยฃ1.1 million on a โCryptoRock.โ It was literally a grey pixel rock. Today? Worth about ยฃ200. Thatโs less than a Steelhouse Festival weekend ticket. Only in crypto, mun.
๐ Top 10 Funniest NFT Fails of All Time
- Logan Paulโs ยฃ490k NFT โ ยฃ8 ๐
- Jack Dorseyโs First Tweet โ Sold for ยฃ2.3m. Later listed for resale. Highest offer? About ยฃ225. From history to poverty.
- Pixel Rocks โ One sold for ยฃ1.1m. Now worth ยฃ200.
- Melania Trumpโs NFT Auction โ She bid on her own NFT to inflate the price. Busted. ๐
- Pixel Penguins โ โCommunity projectโ once valued at ยฃ8k each. Now abandoned. Worth under ยฃ50. ๐ง
- Lazy Lions โ Promised โexclusive community.โ Floor once ยฃ10k, now ยฃ40โยฃ60. ๐ฆ
- Squiggle NFTs โ Literally just colourful lines. Some sold for ยฃ80kโยฃ100k. Now worth a few hundred quid.
- Steve Aokiโs A0K1VERSE โ Fans paid ยฃ500 each for NFT passes. Now they canโt shift them for ยฃ20.
- Donald Trump NFTs โ Sold out at ยฃ80 each, peaked at ยฃ800, now back down around ยฃ50โยฃ60. ๐
- The Bored Ape Yacht Club Lawsuits โ Investors who paid ยฃ200kโยฃ300k now suing, as floor value hovers around ยฃ20kโยฃ30k.
๐จ Culture Roast: Was It Ever About Art?
Hereโs the thing: some genuine artists used NFTs to sell their work. But most of the big hype wasnโt about art. It was:
- Copy-paste monkeys ๐
- Pixel cats ๐ฑ
- Lazy โ10,000 variationsโ projects ๐ฉ๐ถ๏ธ
- Celeb cash-grabs ๐ธ
It was less like the art world and more like a dodgy festival merch tent selling knock-offs.
๐ณ๏ธ Aftermath: The NFT Graveyard
- Trading volume down 95%.
- Celebs never mention their apes anymore. Funny that.
- Investors left bitter and broke.
- Die-hard bros still yell โnext bull run!โ like a drunk in the car park yelling for โFreebirdโ at 2am.
The NFT scene isnโt dead, but itโs no longer the stadium-filling hype monster it was. Itโs back in the toilet circuit, and honestly, thatโs where it belongs.
๐ด Final Riff Report Verdict
NFTs were the Beanie Babies of the blockchain. Overhyped, overvalued, and destined for the bargain bin of history.
Winners? The early flippers.
Losers? Pretty much everyone else.
At least when you buy vinyl, a gig ticket, or a band tee, youโve got something real. With NFTs, you got a monkey JPEG and the crushing weight of regret.
So next time someone tries to flog you an โNFT ticketโ or โdigital merch,โ tell them: โCโmon butt, Iโd rather buy a pint.โ๐บ
๐ Final Word: Watching celebs, tech bros, and everyday fans lose millions on cartoon monkeys might be the funniest encore the internet has ever seen. NFTs promised the moon ๐, delivered rocks ๐ชจ, and left everyone holding the worldโs most expensive meme.
Michael is the founder, editor, and chief riff wrangler behind The Riff Report, an independent Welsh rock and metal publication built by fans, for fans. With a lifelong passion for loud guitars, unforgettable live shows, and the incredible community that surrounds rock and metal, he created The Riff Report to celebrate everything that makes the scene specialโfrom legendary headline acts and grassroots venues to rising bands that deserve to be heard.
A familiar face at festivals across the UK, Michael spends much of the year covering events including Download Festival, Bloodstock Open Air, Steelhouse Festival, Firevolt, Plumpton Revival, and many more. Whether heโs battling the Welsh weather on a mountainside, surviving a weekend in a muddy campsite, or squeezed against the front barrier with thousands of fellow fans, heโs always searching for the next great story to share.
As editor of The Riff Report, Michael writes festival guides, breaking news, album reviews, gig reviews, interviews, opinion pieces, nostalgia features, and behind-the-scenes stories from across the rock and metal world. His writing combines honest opinions, humour, and a genuine love for live music, bringing readers closer to the bands, festivals, venues, and people that keep the scene alive.
Michael is particularly passionate about supporting independent artists, local venues, charities, and the wider UK rock and metal community. He believes every band deserves a chance to be discovered and every festival has a story worth telling. Through The Riff Report, he aims to shine a spotlight on both the biggest names in rock and the future stars waiting to break through.
When heโs not writing or interviewing artists, youโll probably find him exploring festival campsites, photographing live shows, chatting with fellow fans over a pint, or planning the next road trip in search of more riffs, bigger crowds, and unforgettable moments.
Above all, Michael believes rock and metal are about more than musicโtheyโre about community, friendship, and creating memories that last a lifetime. Thatโs exactly what The Riff Report exists to celebrate.
Proudly Welsh. Proudly Loud. Always chasing the next great riff. ๐ค
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