Diplo, DJ Khaled, Future and Martin Garrix buy NFTs through MoonPay

Music stars Diplo, DJ Khaled, Martin Garrix and Future have bought NFTs from the Bored Ape Yacht Club collection via MoonPay’s ‘concierge service’. 

In the last week, all four musicians have changed their profile pictures on either Twitter or Instagram to flaunt their purchases. 

Yesterday, alongside changing his profile picture to Bored Ape #5384, producer Diplo tweeted a Spotify Wrapped image featuring the item. On November 28, rapper Future posted #4672 with the caption ‘gm’. 

All of these items from the Bored Ape Yacht Club can be traced back to MoonPay’s OpenSea account. The account page shows that each of the pieces was bought by MoonPay and later transferred to another address.  

Of the four stars, only Diplo has a named OpenSea address, but a person close to the situation confirmed that the other addresses are affiliated with the other stars and that MoonPay facilitated the purchases. 

To the MoonPay? 

Last week, The Block revealed that MoonPay had quietly launched a ‘concierge’ service targeting high-net individuals interested in buying digital collectables and crypto. Its first customers included rappers Lil Baby, Post Malone and talk show host Jimmy Fallon. 

Yet aside from transferring the NFTs to clients and invoicing them, the exact mechanics of how concierge deals are negotiated remain unclear. 

The nature of the deals has drawn scepticism from crypto Twitter, with users questioning the relationship between the artists and MoonPay. 

CEO and co-founder Ivan Soto-Wright recently confirmed that he first met Fallon at NFT.NYC, and it was during this meeting that the host agreed to shout out the payments company on his show, according to Soto-Wright. A MoonPay spokesperson confirmed last week that the company has no commercial relationship with Fallon. 

The addition of four more celebrities to MoonPay’s client roster suggests the service is gaining traction in the wake of the company’s $555 million Series A round, which was led by Tiger Global and Coatue. 

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