Steve Aoki told CoinDesk in August 2021 that NFTs would be “part of the culture” within five years. Almost exactly five years later, he liquidated what remained of his crypto portfolio.
Data from Arkham Intelligence shows that Aoki’s wallet sold 1.785 billion SHIB for around $10,300 and traded 7.25 ETH for around $15,900 on Monday, moving $29,650 in USDT to Gemini. Two weeks earlier, the same wallet sold 4.155 billion PEPE on 1inch for $14,700. Smaller stablecoin moves from $600 to $1,700 via MetaMask filled gaps between larger outflows.
These sales are pocket change, but the losses are not.
Aoki paid over $800,000 for seven Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs during the 2021 boom, when he was one of the most visible celebrities for the space.
These seven monkeys are now worth about $13,800 each, or about $97,000 in total, an 88% drop from its purchase price. He hasn’t sold them, but at current rock-bottom prices, there’s not much left to recover.
At the height of the NFT craze, Aoki secured funding for “Dominion X,” an NFT TV show produced in collaboration with Seth Green’s Stoopid Buddy Stoodios.
The show sold 500 NFTs in 30 seconds on Nifty Gateway. His manager told CoinDesk that the sale “barely covered” production costs, but demonstrated the existence of a market for “original intellectual property on the blockchain.”
The show was never broadcast.
The broader NFT market confirms this trend. Bored Ape floor prices have fallen from over $400,000 in early 2022 to under $14,000 today. The 2023 to 2025 bull market, which propelled Bitcoin to all-time highs above $126,000, has largely bypassed NFTs. Unlike previous cycles, capital has increasingly favored projects demonstrating clear utility and portfolio value over purely narrative or speculative assets.
Aoki still holds the seven monkeys. Everything else goes to Gemini.
