The Biggest Celebrity NFT Owners in the Bored Ape Yacht Club

CryptoPunks might have kicked off the NFT profile picture trend, but the Bored Ape Yacht Club is making even stronger inroads to collectors who aren’t deeply immersed in crypto culture.

CryptoPunks might have kicked off the NFT profile picture trend, but the Bored Ape Yacht Club is making even stronger inroads to collectors who aren’t deeply immersed in crypto culture.

Yuga Labs’ Ethereum-based NFT project—which has yielded more than $2 billion in secondary trading volume across three collections—counts a growing number of celebrity owners, including big names like TV host Jimmy Fallon, athletes including Stephen Curry and Shaquille O’Neal, and musicians like Marshmello and Post Malone.

The Bored Ape Yacht Club is billed as an exclusive social group for NFT holders, and the club keeps drawing more and more famous folks. An NFT acts like a receipt that proves ownership for a rare digital item: in this case, one of 10,000 unique avatars that can be used for social media profiles, creative projects, and potentially turning a profit given their rapid rise in value.

With both Universal Music Group and producer Timbaland turning Bored Apes into virtual music groups, plus plans to bring the brand across the world of entertainment, Bored Apes could soon become ubiquitous—with celebrity holders helping to lead that charge.

Here’s a look at some of the biggest celebrity holders of Bored Ape Yacht Club and Mutant Ape Yacht Club NFTs, in order of when they first bought in.