Snoop Dogg Scoops Up Two $760 ‘rektguy’ NFTs from Former Barclays Trader Ovie Faruq

Snoop Dogg recently acquired two NFTs at about $760 each from the likes of prior Barclays Plc trader Ovie Faruq. The hip-hop mogul and rap icon have been heavily invested in the Web3 and crypto space, evolving Death Row records itself into an entire NFT label and launching his own self-titled collection, aptly coined "A Journey with the Dogg," in early April. From discriminated Malaysian artists to ex-Barclays traders, Snoop sure knows how to pick where his tokens originate from.

His most recent acquisitions, which took place on May 28, according to the rapper's Twitter post, were under the collection titled "rektguy" via the likes of the aforementioned Faruq, a long-time Barclays high yield trader who started in 2011 and no sooner got bored of the work. Proof of the sale is showcased within an official Death Row Records OpenSea wallet, wherein several various Bored Ape Yacht Club and NotBankskyArt tokens exist on full display.

"Yesterday Snoop Dogg bought my art and made it his profile picture. Crazy times!" Faruq said in a post on LinkedIn.

Faruq's collection rose by about 250% following Snoop Dogg's Twitter announcement, in which he even changed his profile picture into the NFT. Individual pieces within the collection of rektguy NFTs are now going for between 0.7 ($1,353) to 0.9 ($1,743) Ethereum, which is the primary form of payment in digital art collecting realm. Snoop purportedly picked up both pieces around .38 Ether, which is about $760, proving just how much one character's influence can have on the overall market, even in times of extreme volatility - if not dismay.

While the cryptocurrency markets have been in total freefall over the past several weeks following the depeg of TerraUSD, the NFT world hasn't fared well, either. Snoop Dogg's most recent purchase may have swayed the market just a little bit, but it's nothing compared to previous swings, shown most prominent of all in the 70% NFT sale slump since early April. Nowadays, NFT prices have been slashed by nearly 50% from their previous highs.

Not only are prices down, but so too are wallets and potential investors, as the NFT boom no sooner dwindles in a time of utter uncertainty, witnessed best in rising interest rates, stock market redlines, and simple interest waning on the collection of intangible pieces of digital artworks. Still, the market spiral hasn't swayed Snoop Dogg or the rektguy collection creator in the least bit.

On other fronts, Snoop has been busy building a literal "Snoopverse" within the digital landscape known as The Sandbox, in which one avid fan ponied up a heavy premium just to situate himself next to the rap god. He's been quite busy building not only a universe within the metaverse, but an avid NFT collection and brand situated not just on one steady market but several in an attempt to diversify his portfolio.

As for Faruq, NFTs were a gateway into a whole new world offered to him ironically on the night of his own resignation from Barclays after a few adult beverages. He explains his newfound career path best himself, "It was 3:00 AM and I was still up. I was scrolling through Twitter on my phone. I saw a bunch of people minting this thing called Bored Ape Yacht Club." Faruq adds, "I was a little drunk. I just quit my job. It looked cool and I went for it."

As for the uncertain times in both the NFT and crypto universes, Faruq seems a little dismayed. He explained to Bloomberg, "This market is always going to be volatile and correlated with tech stocks. We believe, with regulation, it will become a more stable and fundamentally solid market in the medium term."

With the metaverse concept still in its infancy, much remains to learn and leverage in terms of the Web3 medium, blockchain enhancements, and the utilization of both crypto and NFTs for the varied purposes of trading, creating art, avatars, clothes, and much more. There's an interesting future still riding on the potential of the NFT market, and, while the many mainline investors seemingly pull out in fear, Snoop Dogg and Faruq remain quite adamant on where the market is headed: just like smoke from Snoop's joint, it's only going up.