Elon Musk is a notorious crypto market influencer or, as some would like to call it, a market manipulator. Musk has been known in the crypto community as a DOGE avid supporter. However, his interest seems to have shifted to an NFT. In a surprising move, the billionaire entrepreneur has tweeted a picture of a Milady NFT on his Twitter account, causing a surge in its floor price on the popular NFT marketplace, OpenSea.
Elon Musk gets another NFT obsession
Wednesday, Twitter CEO Elon Musk delighted fans of the counterculture non-fungible token (NFT) collection Miladys by sharing a meme with the instantly recognizable image of one of the avatar NFTs and the words “There is no meme, I love you.”
The collection quickly ascended to the top trending position on the NFT marketplace OpenSea, with the floor price momentarily reaching a record high of 7.3 ETH (approximately $13,700) before falling back to 5.6 ETH at press time. The collection’s floor price has increased by 59% over the past week.
According to data from NFT Price Floor, the entry-level price for the collection on secondary markets jumped promptly from 3.75 ETH ($6,920) to 5.25 ETH ($9,700), resulting in a 57% increase over the course of 24 hours. The increase recalls the past effect of Elon Musk’s remarks on the price of the meme coin Dogecoin.
NFT marketplace OpenSea reports a market-wide sales increase, with over 600 NFTs sold in the last hour for a total of approximately 3,700 ETH, or over $6,9 million. It is by far the most popular product during that time period.
The crypto community reacts to the controversy
Miladys are comprised of 9,823 profile-picture (PFP) NFTS with wide-eyed, childlike features. Despite its innocent imagery, the collection has been the subject of controversy due to conspiracy theories and slurs shared by the creator of Remilia and the project, also known as Charlotte Fang, Charlie Fang, or Charlemagne. The CEO of Remilia acknowledged he was behind an offensive Twitter account and other offensive posts, and he subsequently left the project.
Miladys NFTs have also become a “wartime” meme among some NFT traders and crypto industry professionals, who have used the Milady Maker artwork on social media in response to the SEC’s intensifying scrutiny of cryptocurrencies.
The Milady meme isn’t the first time Elon Musk has used Twitter to cause a cryptocurrency price surge. Dogecoin’s value skyrocketed last month after Musk changed the platform’s logo to the famous Shiba Inu dog meme.
On Wednesday, other projects from Remilia Creative, the artist collective behind Milady NFT, were also on the rise. Redacted Remilio Babies NFT sales, for example, have increased by 660% in the last 24 hours.
While some critics have expressed skepticism about the volatile nature of NFTs and their speculative nature, others argue that they represent a new form of art and a way for creators to monetize their work in a digital age.
As the hype around NFTs continues to grow, it remains to be seen whether the Milady NFT and other digital assets will hold their value in the long term or if they will eventually succumb to the whims of the market. However, one thing is certain – the world of NFTs is here to stay and Elon Musk‘s latest tweet has only added fuel to the fire.
