Coinbase has paid $25 million for an NFT that compels the once popular crypto podcast UpOnly to restart. Bull market vibes anyone?
News
Crypto exchange Coinbase has spent $25 million to acquire and burn a non-fungible token (NFT) designed to revive the once popular crypto podcast called UpOnly.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong that the “rumors are true” on Tuesday, adding that the firm bought the to bring back the UpOnly podcast for a new season.
Onchain data from Arkham Intelligence also that Coinbase sent $25 million USDC to a wallet controlled by podcast host and crypto influencer Jordan Fish, also known as “Cobie.”
The original podcast was popular during the 2021 bull market and featured interviews with prominent crypto figures. It was notably sponsored by FTX before the exchange .
UpOnly’s last episode was uploaded to YouTube in December 2022, shortly after the FTX collapse. In May, Cobie “I am no longer the decision maker on if Up Only returns.”
“The power is now stored within this NFT that I just minted. When the NFT is burned, the podcast will restart.”
The NFT was on OpenSea but the highest offer bid was just 4.7 ETH, or around $18,500, so Coinbase appears to have vastly overpaid for it.
The NFT now ranks as the fifth most expensive NFTs sold in crypto’s history. Cointelegraph reached out to Coinbase but did not receive an immediate response.
“Unc Only” jokes Cobie
“Ah man wtf,” Cobie on X, stating that it has been three years since UpOnly ended. “I was in my 20s when it started, now I have grey hair. We will rename it Unc Only and I will spend $25m on cosmetic surgery. See ya soon,” he added.
“Time to go live Unc,” replied Coinbase.
UpOnly describes itself as podcast “prioritizing entertainment before alpha but mostly there is neither.”
Related:
Memecoins pump and dump
As the news broke, a memecoin called UPONLY on the Coinbase layer-2 network Base skyrocketed 7,900% before dumping, while the COBIE memecoin on Base exploded 5,800%, to DEX Screener.
A Solana-based with the same UPONLY ticker pumped around 250% at the same time.
“An UPONLY memecoin went to $50M in 2024 on Solana, but UpOnlyTV wasn’t resumed. Now that Coinbase spent $25M on resuming UpOnly, let’s send a Base memecoin to $500M,” crypto investor “Rune.”
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