Madonna acquires a Bored Ape for over $500,000

Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFTs continue to attract the attention of celebrities. Madonna, a celebrated pop musician, has acquired a Bored Ape NFT valued at over $500,000.

Madonna buys BAYC NFT

Madonna took to Instagram to post that she had ventured into the metaverse. She noted that this happened after she acquired a Bored APE #4988. The NFT features a cartoon monkey with an S&M hat.

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In the post, she noted that she had purchased the NFT through the help of Moonpay. Moonpay is a cryptocurrency payments platform that facilitates large NFT purchases for celebrities. The company has been offering these services since 2021.

Data from OpenSea shows that Moonpay bought this NFT on behalf of Madonna for 180 Ethereum (ETH/USD), valued at around $564,000. The NFT was transferred to a wallet associated with Madonna.

This is not the only NFT transaction made by Moonpay this week. Shortly after buying Madonna #4988 NFT, the firm purchased another BAYC #1506. The NFT features a cartoon monkey with leopard fur and an eye patch. This NFT is currently the profile picture of Wiz Khalifa.

Bored Apes have been purchased by various celebrities over the past year. Justin Bieber, Snoop Dogg, Mark Cuban, The Chainsmokers, Steve Aoki and more hold BAYC NFTs.

Bored Ape records notable success

Yuga Labs, the company behind the BAYC NFTs, has had a successful year. Last week, the company announced the launch of ApeCoin (APE). Ape will not be the native token for the BAYC. This token made major gains shortly after launch. The token was also airdropped by BAYC holders before it started trading on exchanges. The launch of this coin was also followed by an announcement that the company was also working on a metaverse gaming project.

This week, Yuga Labs reached $4 billion after raising $450 million in a funding round. The funding round was led by a16z, a venture capital firm led by Andreessen Horowitz. Other venture capital firms involved in the funding round include the FTX exchange, Animoca, The Sandbox, etc.