Jay-Z Changes Profile Picture to CryptoPunk NFT as he Auctions NFT of his Debut Album at Sotheby’s

Popular rapper Jay-Z has changed his Twitter profile picture to CryptoPunk NFTs, exposing his 3 million followers to the exploding and exciting world of non-fungible tokens.

CryptoPunk is a popular collection of a limited 10,000 NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain that was first released by Larva Labs in 2017 but gained traction this year as NFTs went mainstream.

CryptoPunk #6095, which is the profile picture of Jay-Z, is male with wild hair and features a gold chain, both relatively rare traits that add value to the punk. It was sold in late April for 55 ETH, worth $126,000 at the time.

Recently, Sotheby’s sold the most expensive CryptoPunk to date at $11.8 million, which was a rare CryptoPunk alien.

JAY-Z with the cryptopunk profile picture 👀

NFTs are dead pic.twitter.com/C59eKyCrqb

— BIG DOG (@MoonOverlord) June 25, 2021

This CryptoPunk avatar came after Jay-Z set up his first NFT sale with auction house Sotheby’s.

The NFT being auctioned is based on his debut album ‘Reasonable Doubt” released in 1996, for which Jay-Z worked with digital artist Derrick Adams to create a one-of-one animated digital collectible meant to “recontextualize” the album cover.

Called Heir to the Throne, the image in the NFT was inspired by Jay-Z ‘s and Adams’s experiences with “life in the urban streets.

Besides being available at Sotheby’s New York, the NFT will also be exhibited virtually in Sotheby’s gallery in Decentraland.

The sale of the NFT will run until July 2, with bidding to begin at $1,000. Buyers have the option to pay in Ether (ETH), Bitcoin (BTC), or fiat currencies. Sotheby’s crypto purchases are facilitated through Coinbase Commerce.

A portion of the proceeds from the auction will go to the Shawn Carter Foundation, which gives scholarships to individuals from low-income backgrounds and helps them with their post-secondary education.

Can’t knock the hustle. In celebration of JAY-Z’s pioneering and landmark debut album, ‘Reasonable Doubt’, Sotheby’s is offering an NFT of original digital art by critically admired American artist @derrickadamsny. 1/3 pic.twitter.com/YaXoBinl7E

— Sotheby's (@Sothebys) June 25, 2021

According to trader CL of Girl Capital, with the kind of attraction NFTs is getting, “people will realize NFTs are probably the biggest penetration into mainstream than anything else crypto ever had” due to the fact that it allows “normies to make money…(and) many people don't like to bet on price.”

The reason they grab so much media and mass attention is a mix of factors, including people already spending all their attention online every day, NFT enabling content scarcity and ownership, and some of these NFTs costing a lot, he added.