The search for status online has branched into some truly mind-bending directions lately, with people dropping millions of dollars worth of cryptocurrency on NFTs of Cryptopunks and free clipart rocks for bragging rights. Now, YouTuber and celebrity boxer Logan Paul has apparently entered the arena with the purchase of 26 pixels for a total of $155,000.
According to his tweet, Logan “literally left dinner” to snag a pair of blockchain collectibles, which are lumps of 18 pixels that vaguely look like rocks. The rocks are part of We Like the Rocks, an NFT project that claims to have launched just before EtherRock in 2017, the latter of which was re-discovered recently and took off as an absurdist (and very expensive) lark for the most crypto-pilled of investors. Notably, though, at $65,000 and $95,000—the prices Paul paid for his rocks according to his tweet—We Like the Rocks rocks can still be bought cheaper than EtherRocks. According to blockchain records, the owner of the rocks paid 20 ETH and 30 ETH, which lines up with Paul’s tweet.
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We Like the Rocks is now trying to usurp EtherRock and Paul has apparently bought into the mythos, calling the project “digital history.”
“$60k and $95k. The first rock NFT on Ethereum @weliketherocks; actually came before the Ether rock,” Paul wrote. “I know it’s ridiculous but it’s digital history and I think they’re pretty cool ” The price floor for EtherRocks is currently more than $2 million.
“Max cope,” Meltem Demirors, noted EtherRock holder and Chief Strategy Officer of CoinShares, wrote in a quote-tweet of Paul’s message.
We Like the Rocks holders, Paul included, are seemingly trying to replicate the success of EtherRocks and make a quick profit. Though Paul said he bought his rocks for $65,000 and $95,000, he’s now listed them for 1500 ETH each, or nearly $5 million. Prices for rocks on the We Like the Rocks website are all over the place, with some going for as low as 65 ETH ($209,201), with others listed at 6969 ETH, or $22 million.
In the new market for online status, where pixels are sold for as much as many times a person’s annual wages so that an investor can make it their Twitter avi, anything can happen.
Update: An earlier version of this story’s headline contained a typo that said 26 pixels rather than 36 and has been updated.