July 18, 2022
By Sharan Kaur Phillora
It is no longer surprising that the latest craze to grip the world comes from the crypto space, with the popularity of non-fungible tokens, or NFTs shooting up in the last year. From celebrity tweets and videos promoting NFTs to thousands of fans, who buy the merchandise they sell, NFTs have exploded in popularity as well as price over the past year.
While celebrities have been known to cash in on their popularity by selling everything from perfume to clothing lines, some have used their platform to give back to society. In the case of NFTs, some celebrities choose to donate a portion of their proceeds to charity.
Here is a list of five celebrities who are doing just that:
1. Kate Moss
Kate Moss collaborated with The Moments in Time Collective on a limited edition NFT triptych that captures her in a few seconds of deeply personal moments – behind the wheel of her vintage car, twirling in a sun-drenched woodland and sleeping peacefully in her bed. Each of the three artworks – entitled ‘Walk with Kate’, ‘Drive with Kate’ and ‘Sleep with Kate’ were sold on the e Foundation.app auction site and the proceeds were given Adwoa Aboah’s Gurls Talk platform, which works to destigmatize conversations around women’s mental health.
2. Cara Delevingne
Cara Delevingne embarked on the novelty by auctioning off a digital work of art in honor of her vagina with the goal to raise money for her foundation that supports vulnerable women around the globe. She sold a short 30-second video clip titled “mine.” The project was done in collaboration with the artist Chemical X for his new website ThisIsNumberOne.com
3. Shaquille O’Neal
Basketball legend Shaquille O’Neal raised $2 million for his charitable foundation through the sale of his unique NFTs. Through the NFT platform Notables, the Shaq Gives Back drive minted 10,000 tokens that were all one of a kind. The images depicted “The Big Aristotle” in a number of different costumes. The Shaquille O’Neal Foundation, which partners with Boys & Girls Clubs of America and Communities in Schools, was launched in 2019.
4. Shawn Mendes
Canadian singer Shawn Mendes came together with avatar tech company Genies to launch an NFT based on his latest album, Wonder. The singer launched digital wearables—guitar, vest, a signed t-shirt and more on OpenSea and raised $200,000. All the profits from his NFT sales go to the Shawn Mendes Foundation which supports young digital artists.
5. Jack Dorsey
Twitter founder Jack Dorsey’s first-ever tweet was purchased by Iranian-born crypto entrepreneur Sina Estavi for $2.9 million in March 2021. In April 2022 he announced that he wanted to sell the NFT $48 million and 50% of its proceeds would go to charity.
While this list is in no way exhaustive, we have seen many other artists and players like BTS, Lionel Messi, Eminem, Lindsay Lohan, Grimes, and others enter the world of NFTs. It will be interesting to see how this new technology continues to develop and what other ways celebrities find to give back using this new platform.
About the author
Sharan Kaur Phillora’s thirst for knowledge has led her to study many different subjects, including NFTs and Blockchain technology – two emerging technologies that will change how we interact with each other in the future. When she isn’t exploring a new idea or concept, she enjoys reading literary masterpieces.