50 Cent had no problem making it seem like he forgot about a small fortune — $7 million — on Instagram, but once he testified in court, it was a different story. 50 Cent admitted in court documents that he has never owned any bitcoin.
He is in bankruptcy court at the moment.
No Bitcoins
Bitcoin lost 50 percent of its worth, but that doesn't mean that owning any is chump change. Back in January, 50 Cent admitted that he forgot he accepted Bitcoin payments for his 2014 album Animal Ambition. TMZ's report said he brought in 700 bitcoins from those purchases. At that time, it would've been worth $400,000 but would've been worth $7.8 million today.
"I'm a keep it real. I forgot I did that sh--," 50 Cent said on Instagram. The comment is now deleted.
In documents for bankruptcy court, 50 Cent now claims that he has no earnings from selling his 2014 album for bitcoins. In the "Declaration on bitcoins," he provides a summary of his bitcoin earning.
He gave screenshots of his BitPay accounts that show the transactions were mostly for $5.50 or $8.90. The purchases would add up to 6, almost 7 bitcoins with $657 value at the time.
He clarifies the status of his bitcoin ownership by saying that he has never owned any.
"I do not personally own, and have not owned, either a Bitcoin account or any bitcoins," 50 Cent said in the document.
In The News
The big question in all of this is, if he didn't own any bitcoins, why did he go along with all the reports that were claiming otherwise? 50 Cent tells the court that unless a news story presents him in a negative light, he doesn't deny it.
"As a general matter, so long as a press story is not irreparably damaging to my image or brand, I usually do not feel the need to publicly deny the reporting." said 50 Cent in his declaration. "This is particular true when I feel the press report in question is favorable to my image or brand, even if the report is based on a misunderstanding of the facts or contains outright falsehoods."
50 Cent assures the court that he told his advisors to make sure that he didn't actually make any money from the bitcoin transactions for his album.
He modifies the old saying, “all press is good press,” so he denies the bad press but keeps the good press.
