American rapper and record producer Snoop Dogg launched Telegram’s first celebrity digital gift drop on Wednesday, with nearly 1 million collectibles sold out in just 30 minutes, according to CEO Pavel Durov — netting $12 million.
“SnoopDogg’s digital collectibles drop on Telegram sold out in just 30 minutes today, generating $12M in sales,” Durov wrote on his official Telegram channel. “Nearly 1M unique NFTs, inspired by Snoop’s iconic style, were gone in record time.”
It appears that the collectibles were initially sold and registered internally on Telegram, with minting available via TON blockchain at the end of July. “Blockchain minting and the secondary market go live in 21 days. It’s going to be wild,” Durov added. Entertainment and celebrity news outlet TMZ first reported the news.
Telegram and the TON blockchain are closely linked, with TON originally developed by Telegram’s team before legal pressure led to the project being handed over to an open-source community. Nevertheless, TON now serves as the underlying blockchain powering Telegram’s onchain features, including collectibles, web3 usernames, and payments for its claimed 1 billion users.
“@durov time to drop it like it’s hot,” Snoop Dogg posted on his own official Telegram channel ahead of the sale — referencing one of his most famous lyrics. He even released a short “Gifts” music video via his official YouTube channel to celebrate the launch.
The drop included a mix of vintage cars, swag bags, a digital dog, and marijuana-inspired collectibles.
Not Snoop Dogg’s first NFT rodeo
It’s not Snoop’s first foray into NFTs and crypto, however, having been a prominent figure in the space for over a decade, first accepting bitcoin for an album in 2013. Under the alias “Cozomo de’ Medici,” he reportedly amassed a $17 million NFT collection at one point, becoming known as a major digital art collector. He also launched the “Snoopverse” in The Sandbox metaverse, releasing the “The Doggies” NFT collection, and even performed with Eminem as their Bored Ape avatars at the 2022 MTV Video Music Awards.
Snoop’s latest sale is somewhat of an outlier in an NFT market that has suffered tremendously since its 2021 heyday, failing to recover from the 2022 bear market as strongly as other sectors in the crypto space.
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