By Abhinav Ramnarayan
Rapper Snoop Dogg has bought two of the nonfungible tokens created by former Barclays Plc trader Ovie Faruq.
The tokens, part of a collection called “rektguy,” were bought by Snoop Dogg on May 28, Faruq said. Snoop Dogg didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment, though the two NFTs are now listed on a verified account for Snoop Dogg’s Death Row Records on NFT platform opensea.io. Snoop Dogg also tweeted “Got #Rekt” on the day with an image of the NFT and made it his profile picture on Twitter.
NFTs, or digital collectibles, have soared in value in recent years, drawing investment from venture capitalists such as Andreessen Horowitz and attention from celebrities ranging from Paris Hilton to Reese Witherspoon. A part of the cryptocurrency market, they have fallen in value along with Bitcoin and Ether — the token of choice for trading NFTs — in recent weeks.
“I’ve had some success with my art this year, but it was with people within the crypto and NFT community, so it was incredible to have someone so high profile buy it unsolicited,” Faruq said. “It hasn’t really sunk in yet.”
Snoop Dogg bought the two NFTs for 0.38 Ether ($760) each. Other rektguy NFTs are now trading higher on opensea.io and are being quoted between 0.7-0.9 Ether.
Faruq and colleague Mike Anderson, who go by the pseudonyms OSF and Mando online, left Barclays earlier this year to trade NFTs. They have amassed a collection that includes several Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs.
“I also imagine I will get a lot more eyes on my art and it has given Mike and myself a real opportunity to build something out of it,” Faruq said.
Faruq said the NFT market has been hit hard by the volatility in the crypto space, with prices for some tokens falling more than 50%.
“This market is always going to be volatile and correlated with tech stocks,” he said. “We believe, with regulation, it will become a more stable and fundamentally solid market in the medium term.”
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