Steve Aoki told CoinDesk in August 2021 that NFTs would be “part of the culture” within five years. Almost exactly five years later, he is liquidating what is left of his crypto portfolio.
Arkham Intelligence data shows that Aoki’s wallet sold 1.785 billion SHIB for about $10,300 and exchanged 7.25 ETH for approximately $15,900 on Monday, routing $29,650 in USDT to Gemini. Two weeks earlier, the same wallet sold 4.155 billion PEPE through 1inch for $14,700. Smaller stablecoin moves of $600 to $1,700 through MetaMask filled the gaps between the larger exits.
These sales are pocket money, but the losses are not.
Aoki paid over $800,000 for seven Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs during the 2021 boom when he was one of the most visible celebrity advocates for the space.
Those seven monkeys are now worth approximately $13,800 each, or about $97,000 in total, an 88% drop from his purchase price. He has not sold them, but with the current floor prices there is little left to recover.
At the height of the NFT craze, Aoki secured funding for “Dominion X”, an NFT television show produced in collaboration with Seth Green’s Stoopid Buddy Stoodios.
The show sold 500 NFTs in 30 seconds on Nifty Gateway. His manager told CoinDesk that the sales “barely covered” production costs, but showed a market for “original IP on the blockchain.”
The show never made it to air.
The broader NFT market confirms the pattern. Bored Ape floor prices have dropped from over $400,000 in early 2022 to under $14,000 today. The 2023-2025 bull market, which lifted Bitcoin to all-time highs above $126,000, largely bypassed NFTs. Unlike previous cycles, capital has increasingly favored projects that demonstrate clear utility and portfolio value over purely narrative-driven or speculative assets.
Aoki still holds the seven monkeys. Everything else goes to Gemini.
