Justin Bieber Paid $1.3 Million for a Bored Ape NFT. It's Now Worth $12K

Pop music icon Justin Bieber became one of the most famous members of the Bored Ape Yacht Club when he spent 500 ETH—or around $1.3 million—in January 2022 for Ethereum-based NFT, Bored Ape #3001. 

Bieber’s ape, among the most common in the collection in terms of its visual attributes, is now valued at around $12,000 just four years later as the shine from NFTs and the Yacht Club has largely faded.

The value of any artwork can be influenced by a variety of factors, including personal taste, provenance, and even previous ownership; Bieber's history with the NFT could potentially help it command a higher price if he were to put it on the market. But comparable assets in the collection with similar attributes have seen a substantial value drop.

The trade, which would amount to a 99% loss if the singer were to part ways with his NFT at the current floor price, or the price of the cheapest NFT listed on the marketplace, seems bad now. 

But even at the time of purchase, the NFT community was chiding the star for his decision to purchase a “floor” Ape, or one without any rare features or attributes, for such a sum. Typically, only the rarest NFTs from a collection have sold for a major premium to the floor price. 

“Who the fuck is advising Justin Bieber’s NFT purchases and how can I get in touch to sell them floors NFTs for 500 ETH,” Farokh Sarmad, now president of Dastan—the parent company of an editorially independent Decrypt—posted following the buy.

Even still, the Bored Ape Yacht Club’s floor price did rise substantially in the months following Bieber’s purchase, eventually reaching as high as $429,000 in April 2022. And the singer’s purchase was hardly the most jaw-dropping buy of the NFT frenzy, which also saw artist Beeple sell a digital art NFT for $69.3 million the year prior. 

Since that time though Apes have been mired in a long drawn out NFT winter which has pulled down the floor prices of rival collections like CryptoPunks and Pudgy Penguins as well. 

Punks also once traded above $400,000, while Pudgy Penguins nearly eclipsed $100,000 according to data from NFT Price Floor. The projects now trade at starting prices of about $60,000 and $8,850 worth of ETH, respectively.

Users on Myriad—a prediction market operated by Dastan—don’t believe that winter is going to thaw anytime soon, either. A market that collectively tracks the potential comeback of Apes, Punks, and Penguins gives the trio just 16% odds of reaching floor prices of 10 ETH, or 50 ETH in the case of Punks, by July. 

Nevertheless, Yuga Labs, the parent company of the Bored Ape Yacht Club, continues to work on projects surrounding the collection. In October, Yuga announced that it would create a real-life Bored Ape clubhouse in Miami, Florida for its NFT holders to congregate. 

Its other focus remains Otherside, a massive multiplayer metaverse game featuring avatars from the Bored Ape Yacht Club and other NFT projects.