In 2014, 10 years ago, 50 Cent became the first artist to accept Bitcoin as payment for his album “Animal Ambition” — and boy, oh boy, was he a visionary?! The astronomical rise of Bitcoin has made him a multi-millionaire today (He’d be multi-millionaire without it too but hey, he added tons of Ms to his bank)
So what happened? Fif collected as many as 700 Bitcoins for his fifth album which was released on June 3, 2014. 50 Cent made about $460,000 in sales, going by Bitcoin’s per unit price of $662 at that time. Cut to 2024, and Bitcoin is a different beast now. As of this writing, one Bitcoin is equal to $62,831, according to data from CoinMarketCap. Going by this, the stash accumulated by New York legend is worth a whopping $44 million now.
Interestingly, 50 Cent, who initially confirmed the deal, denied possessing any Bitcoin in a bankruptcy filing later. The incident reiterates the long-endorsed narrative of Bitcoin being a store of value assets. Over the last 10 years, the digital asset has grown an astonishing 104 times in value, a feat that doesn’t have a parallel in modern finance. While the world’s largest cryptocurrency went through bear market cycles, the most recent of which occurred in the aftermath of the FTX collapse, it has recovered strongly every time.
You can revisit Fif’s “Animal Ambition” album below:
