Michael Jordan joined the cryptocurrency and blockchain hype just like several other celebrities and athletes have in the past couple of years. MJ, who has cemented himself as a multi-billionaire with his majority stake in the Charlotte Hornets and his relationship with Jordan Brand, never had to venture into the NFT space.
Non-fungible tokens were the craze of 2022, and it felt like every famous figure seemed to capitalize on this craze. ‘His Airness’ was no different. Despite guys like Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley being confused about the concept of cryptocurrency, Jordan went through with it.
In March last year, he launched the ‘6 Rings’ collection where he released 5,000 tokens for sale. The 6-ring concept comes from the fact that he went 6-0 in the NBA Finals, but fans were in for an unprecedented drop in value as 2022 drew to a close.
Also read: Ben Affleck cites Deloris Jordan as the hero of “AIR” and the reason Michael Jordan is absent from the film
Michael Jordan lost most of the value of his NFT collection
Last year’s FTX scandal that resulted in a crash in the crypto market is responsible for Jordan’s NFT collection taking the plunge it did. This is because the tokens that were in his collection were priced in SOL or Solana. With the FTX crash, Sol took a dip from $96 at the time of the rally’s fall to $14.41 at the time of the FTX crash.
Each NFT collectible from the Michael Jordan collection was priced at an average of 16.99 SOL, with some even going for as cheap as 2.3 SOL. However, this did not matter since owners of the “6 rings” NFTs lost a significant amount of money due to the crash, the decline being estimated at 92%.
The most expensive token from the collection was the Gold 6 Rings collectible which was priced at 50,000 SOL. If Sol was worth $96, that specific collectible would be worth $4.8 million. Instead, at the time of the crash, it was worth a “paltry” $723,000.
Was Shaquille O’Neal Hiding In His House After The FTX Lawsuit?
Shaquille O’Neal, despite claiming he felt confused by cryptocurrency and the idea of the blockchain, would go on to be one of the top celebrity endorsers of FTX. He along with guys like Stephen Curry and Tom Brady promoted FTX this past year.
But when the FTX scandal broke, FTX retail investor Edwin Garrison sued every one of the celebrity investors, including Shaquille O’Neal, for promotion. When lawyers regarding the case showed up at his home, he did not meet them, leading many to believe that he is ‘hiding’ from them.
Instead, it turns out Shaq had hip surgery. He has since talked about his surgery and even wondered about it with the guys on “Inside the NBA” doing the same thing.
Also read: ‘I’m not the best, Michael Jordan is’: Charles Barkley revealed he couldn’t believe what he saw from UNC Alum in 1984
