Elon Musk briefly changed his Twitter profile picture to the Bored Apes Yacht Collection from the NFT collection and it sent ApeCoin soaring.
The Tesla CEO then went on to tweet, “I dunno … seems kinda fungible." As per a New York Post report, ApeCoin, the cryptocurrency started by Yuga Labs, was up nearly 20% as of 8 a.m. on Tuesday (United States time) and lost some of the gains later in the day.
It traded at $17.64 per token during the surge. While many Twitter users were scratching their heads regarding whether or not Musk’s tweet was dissing NFTs, a rather legal tiff also broke out.
One user wrote, “One of the apes in your PFP is owned by someone I know. I instructed my lawyer to send you a cease and desist letter on his behalf. Thank you for understanding, big fan!"
That’s just a regular Tuesday in the NFT universe. Musk’s Twitter pic was actually created for the Sotheby’s sale of the NFT, according to Michael Bouhanna, who is the Co-Head of Digital Art at the auction house."@elonmusk as much I admire your work I’d like you to remove your pfp that I created for our Sotheby’s sale. Or you credit me.
Happy to send you the original file minted with the buyer's approval," Bouhanna tweeted.
“My brother in law is a Texas state trooper. I have connections to the highest powers in TX (I have a gold card).
If anyone attempts to use my NFT in any way without my permission be prepared to be contacted by the state of Texas. This is not a laughing matter or a joke," tweeted yet another person.
Musk’s tweets have often turned cryptocurrencies volatile, especially Dogecoin. In December last year, Musk said Tesla would accept Dogecoin as payment for merchandise on a test basis, sending the meme-based cryptocurrency up 24 percent.
“Tesla will make some merch buyable with Doge & see how it goes," Musk said in a tweet.
Dogecoin, popular among retail investors, raced up to $0.20 after the tweet. Musk’s tweets on the cryptocurrency, including the one where he called it the “people’s crypto", have helped the meme coin soar 5,859 percent over the past year, according to data from the Coinbase website.
Musk did not specify what merchandise, which starts from $50 and goes as high as $1,900, could be bought with dogecoin.
- News 18
