Serena Williams, the legendary tennis player, and the Golden State Warriors star, Stephen Curry, have landed themselves in a class action multi-billion dollar lawsuit. It is claimed that celebrity endorsement of the NFT brand artificially increased the demand and value of the BAYC NFTs and Yuga Labs’ ApeCoin crypto tokens, causing buyers to lose a staggering amount of money. Fans have seen a growing trend of such digital currency lawsuits involving elite celebrities. Williams and Curry were the promoters of The Bored Ape Yacht Club, a group of 10,000 different Bored Ape non-fungible tokens.
Serena Williams along with the famed basketball player involved in the latest NFT crisis.
Fans had initially met NFTs with skepticism. However, when notable athletes like Serena Williams and Stephen Curry started endorsing the firms, Many jumped on the bandwagon and dropped a fairly staggering amount to scoop up the digital rights to popular NFTs.
What is written in the Law Suit?
The lawsuit reads that the endorsements caused “investors to purchase these losing investments at drastically inflated prices.”
The complaint claims that celebrity endorsement artificially increased the interest and value of the NFTs.
The fact that so many celebrities participated in endorsing BAYC helped it generate so much buzz. The promotional campaign was enormously successful, generating billions of dollars in sales and re-sales. The complaint claims that celebrity endorsement artificially increased the interest and value of the BAYC NFTs, resulting in “staggering losses” for buyers.
What is Yuga Labs worth now?
Yuga Labs is expected to be worth $4 billion in 2022. This is largely attributed to the NFT collection’s over US$1 billion in sales. The brand relied heavily on the perception that buying a BAYC NFT would give buyers status. It provided them with benefits, access to events, and other lucrative investment opportunities.