Benzinga - Grammy Award-winning rapper 50 Cent became the first artist to accept Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) as payment 10 years ago for his album "Animal Ambition" — and boy, oh boy, was he a visionary. The astronomical rise of Bitcoin has made him a multi-millionaire today.
What Happened: The popular artist, whose real name is Curtis Jackson, collected as many as 700 Bitcoins for his fifth album which was released on this day in 2014.
50 Cent made about $460,000 in sales, going by Bitcoin's per unit price of $662 at that time.
Cut to 2024, and Bitcoin is a different beast now. As of this writing, one Bitcoin was equal to $68,973, according to data from Benzinga Pro.
Going by this, the stash accumulated by the celebrity music artist is worth a whopping $48 million now.
Interestingly, 50 Cent, who initially confirmed the deal, denied possessing any Bitcoin in a bankruptcy filing later.
Why It Matters: The incident reiterates the long-endorsed narrative of Bitcoin being a store of value assets. Over the last 10 years, the digital asset has grown an astonishing 104 times in value, a feat that doesn't have a parallel in modern finance.
While the world's largest cryptocurrency went through bear market cycles, the most recent of which occurred in the aftermath of the FTX collapse, it has recovered strongly every time.
50 Cent isn't the only pop artist to be associated with Bitcoin. Rap legend Snoop Dogg publicly talked about his Bitcoin holdings and has been a vocal advocate of the digital currency revolution.
This year, Bitcoin is up 61% year-to-date and has bettered its previous highs set in 2021, driven by soaring institutional interest for its spot ETFs. It was last trading up 1.6% at $68,860, according to data from Benzinga Pro.
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