Madonna is the only woman among celebrities splurging most on NFTs

Pop queen Madonna is the only woman among the top 10 celebrities that have spent the most money on a single NFT. Snoop Dogg leads the pack.

The American rapper splashed out more than $7 million on a single NFT artwork, leading him to the top of the list compiled by CoinGecko, a cryptocurrency data aggregator website.

Snoop Dogg paid 1,600 Ethereum for an NFT piece called “Right Click and Save guy” last December, which London-based artist XCOPY created as a meme to mock people who do not believe crypto art is worth anything.

Described as the “whale” in the crypto community, Snoop Dogg had been operating under the pseudonym of Cozomo De Medici until last year, CoinHecko said. It noted his portfolio included another XCOPY piece bought for $3.9 million, as well as multiple CryptoPunks and BoredApes.

“Celebrities buying NFTs are testament to how NFTs have begun to intertwine with popular mainstream culture,” Bobby Ong, COO and co-founder of CoinGecko, said.

He added: “Whether for investment purposes, used as a social signal or a means to gain access to exclusive communities, the NFT sector has a high growth potential that is still largely untapped today.”

Gary Vee, an entrepreneur and YouTube personality, is another early believer in digital art. He has spent just under $4 million on CryptoPunk #2140. Even though he paid 1,600 Ethereum for this NFT – the same amount Snoop Dogg splurged on XCOPY’s piece – he made the purchase five months earlier when one Ether was of a lower value.

It adds to Vee’s collection of about 7,000 NFTs purchased from various projects, according to CoinGecko’s estimate. With his own line of NFTs called VeeFriends, the YouTuber cements his status as an avid collector and advocate of digital art with a “cult following.”

This brings the list to singer Justin Bieber, who was ridiculed on social media earlier this year for paying 500 Ethereum – or more than $1.3 million – for a Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) #3001. Critics said he overpaid for an ape with generic characteristics nearly four times. Nonetheless, he is third on the list of celebrities who paid the most for a single NFT.

DJ and producer Steve Aoki follows in fourth place, having spent just over $862,056 on Doodle #2238. It was literally a showstopper, as Aoki paused one of his live performances in January to announce the purchase to his fans.

Logan Paul, another YouTube personality turned boxer, rounds up the top five with the $624,699 he spent on K4M-1 #03 from the 0N1 Force collection last year. It was reported earlier this week that its value had dropped to mere $10 – but started to pick up pace again once the news spread on social media.

Brazilian soccer star Neymar follows with BAYC #5269, for which he paid $569,531. Marshmello, a masked electronic music producer, is in the seventh position, splurging just over half a million dollars on CryptoPunk #8274 a year ago.

The only woman in the top 10, pop legend Madonna, enters in the eighth position with her purchase of BAYC #4988, which she bought for $466,461 last March. In addition to owning NFTs, she has her collection of tokens made with Beeple, a pioneering digital artist. One of the pieces from the collection titled “Mother of Creation” sold for around $350,000 in May.

Rapper Eminem, who paid $453,776 for BAYC #9055, and Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady, who spent $453,062 on BAYC #3667, round up the top 10 in the ninth and 10th positions, respectively.

CoinGecko has compiled the list after researching 50 different celebrities who had been reported to purchase one or more NFTs since the start of 2021. It based the purchase price on the value of Ethereum at the date and time the acquisition was made and verified the data through Etherscan, an Ethereum blockchain explorer.