Bieber, Curry, and Other 'Bored Ape' Owners Riding Collectible NFT Roller Coaster
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A recent trending story in the NFT (non-fungible token) art space is how Justin Bieber’s January 2022 purchase of Bored Ape #3001 has lost nearly all of its value. The pop star acquired the digital art piece for 500 ETH (Ethereum), which was valued at roughly $1.3M at the time.
However, the present value of Bored Ape #3001 has since imploded, potentially losing about 99% of its value. That's according to OpenSea’s collection floor listing, which stands at 6.10 ETH or approximately $11.7K. The Bieber provenance (or ownership history) could easily push that value higher, but no matter how you slice it, that’s not exactly "standing on business".
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Bored Ape #3001 & The Bored Ape Yacht Club
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Bieber's Bored Ape #3001 (seen above) is considered a “floor” ape among aficionados, because it lacks any rare features or characteristics. It's part of the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) collection, which launched in 2021 and featured 10K Bored Ape NFT art pieces accessible on the Ethereum blockchain.
Purchasing a BAYC ape not only means owning a unique digital collectible but also gives owners membership to the exclusive online/offline community with members-only benefits. One of the benefits, according to OpenSea, is “access to THE BATHROOM, a collaborative graffiti board.”
Other elite members of the Bored Ape Yacht Club
In 2021 and 2022, the Bored Ape Yacht Club was bumping. In addition to the Biebs, other big names that got in on the ape action include Jimmy Fallon, Post Malone, Snoop Dogg, Kevin Hart, Madonna, Lil Baby, and Timberland. Many athletes, including Steph Curry, Josh Hart, Dez Bryant, and Logan Paul also joined the club.
Steph Curry is now part of the Bored Ape Yacht Club (“BAYC” in his Twitter bio), a collection of 10,000 unique Bored Ape NFTs.
— Boardroom (@boardroom) August 29, 2021
The 2x MVP paid 55 ETH for this one, which is $180,000 — or, 0.39% of his $45.7M salary next season.
What a time. pic.twitter.com/T9iBcM7hjk
One of the greatest tennis players of all time, Serena Williams, was gifted a pink Bored Ape by her husband, Alexis Ohanian, the co-founder of Reddit and a well-known NFT supporter. Ohanian reportedly paid 117 ETH (roughly $450K) for the NFT. Serena shared her bored ape on Twitter back in January 2022, with many of her fans not responding favorably to her tweet.
— Serena Williams (@serenawilliams) January 20, 2022
NFT Art Market: Long Winter or Death Spiral?
While Justin Bieber looks to be the poster child for the Bored Ape implosion, he’s far from the only investor who’s seen the value of his piece plummet. According to an article published on Binance last year, the bottom has fallen out of the entire industry. Trading volume, at its 2021 peak, was at $2.9B. Since then it's tumbled to under $24M in March, 2025, representing more than a 90% drop.
Curry paid 55 ETH, or roughly $180K, for his Bored Ape #7990. Should Curry sell and only get the floor value of 6.10 ETH (albeit an unlikely scenario), he would stand to lose a bit more than 93% of his initial investment.
NFT art enthusiasts insist we're in the midst of a deep and persistent "NFT Winter", which could very well be true. But taken together with the continued momentum and demand for physical collectibles like comic books and cards, it seems more likely that collectible enthusiasts are making clear and consistent votes with their wallets to own physical collectibles over NFTs.
This may mean some have already reduced their positions in NFT art, which could be creating a death spiral in the NFT art world.
Zooming out even more, we're also in the middle of a broader crypto pullback. Bitcoin, which was trading at an all-time high of $126K in October, has since fallen to around $66K. Ethereum (ETH), which was trading at over $4,500 at many points last year, has since fallen to below $1,900. As ETH falls, so too does the value of anything traded on the ETH blockchain, like Bored Apes.
Tangible collectibles continue explosive growth trend
As cryptocurrencies and NFT art pieces continue to take a beating, the tangible collectibles space continues to excel, setting new records for sports cards, Pokémon cards, and comics all within the last few months. In fact, of the four cards to ever sell for $10M+, three have sold within the last year.
Who knows how long the pain train will roll on for NFTs, but it looks like most collectors are going all in on the collectibles they can physically own.
Conor is a life long sports card enthusiast who started collecting in the early ’90s, inspired by hometown heroes like Larry Bird, Paul Pierce, Tom Brady, and David Ortiz. Like many ’90s hoops fans, he also started building (and continues to build) a modest Michael Jordan collection.