Coinbase Buys $25M NFT To Restart UpOnly Crypto Podcast

Crypto trade Coinbase has spent $25 million to amass and burn a non-fungible token (NFT) designed to revive the as soon as in style crypto podcast known as UpOnly.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong confirmed that the “rumors are true” on Tuesday, including that the agency purchased the NFT to carry again the UpOnly podcast for a brand new season. 

Onchain knowledge from Arkham Intelligence additionally confirmed that Coinbase despatched $25 million USDC to a pockets managed by podcast host and crypto influencer Jordan Fish, often known as “Cobie.”

The unique podcast was in style through the 2021 bull market and featured interviews with outstanding crypto figures. It was notably sponsored by FTX earlier than the trade collapsed.

UpOnly’s final episode was uploaded to YouTube in December 2022, shortly after the FTX collapse. In Could, Cobie said “I’m now not the choice maker on if Up Solely returns.” 

“The facility is now saved inside this NFT that I simply minted. When the NFT is burned, the podcast will restart.”

The NFT was listed on OpenSea however the highest supply bid was simply 4.7 ETH, or round $18,500, so Coinbase seems to have vastly overpaid for it.

The NFT now ranks because the fifth most costly NFTs offered in crypto’s historical past. Cointelegraph reached out to Coinbase however didn’t obtain an instantaneous response. 

“Unc Solely” jokes Cobie

“Ah man wtf,” Cobie responded on X, stating that it has been three years since UpOnly ended. “I used to be in my 20s when it began, now I’ve gray hair. We are going to rename it Unc Solely and I’ll spend $25m on beauty surgical procedure. See ya quickly,” he added.

“Time to go stay Unc,” replied Coinbase. 

UpOnly describes itself as podcast “prioritizing leisure earlier than alpha however principally there’s neither.”

Associated: Related: NFT markets rebound after $1.2B wipeout in Friday’s crypto crash

Memecoins pump and dump 

Because the information broke, a memecoin known as UPONLY on the Coinbase layer-2 community Base skyrocketed 7,900% earlier than dumping, whereas the COBIE memecoin on Base exploded 5,800%, according to DEX Screener. 

A Solana-based memecoin with the identical UPONLY ticker pumped round 250% on the identical time.

“An UPONLY memecoin went to $50M in 2024 on Solana, however UpOnlyTV wasn’t resumed. Now that Coinbase spent $25M on resuming UpOnly, let’s ship a Base memecoin to $500M,” said crypto investor “Rune.” 

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