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Did rapper YG just flex a $30M Bitcoin stack in his new music video?

YG is seen in the music video holding a Ledger cold storage USB close to a smartphone which has a screen bearing a wallet app with more than $30.6 million worth of BTC in it.

Keenon Dequan Ray Jackson, the rapper who goes by the name YG appears to show off a fat $30 million stack of Bitcoin (BTC) in his latest music video.

The reveal appears to either be an eye-watering — but possibly fake — flex, or a crafty bit of product placement, as a cold storage device from crypto wallet provider Ledger is featured prominently in the video. The social team from Ledger was on it immediately too:

In one of the scenes of the music video for the song titled “Scared Money” featuring J. Cole and Moneybagg Yo, YG is seen holding a Ledger wallet close to a smartphone which has a screen bearing a wallet app with more than $30.6 million worth of BTC in it.

While the image could have easily been faked, rappers are well known for flaunting their wealth and success, especially so in this song which has a theme focused on spending money, investing and wearing half a million dollars worth of jewelry around one's neck.

YG is quite the BTC proponent, as he has mentioned owning digital gold in multiple other songs such as “Big Bank” from 2018, and also in an interview with RollingStone from mid-2021.

During that interview YG said that he liked the simplicity of hodling crypto as he could invest his money into the asset class without being distracted from his music career. He drew comparisons to the real estate market, where he would have to spend a lot time working and learn to do it successfully.

“I f*ck with Bitcoin. [...] I got Ethereum recently and I got Dogecoin recently but I’ve had Bitcoin for about three years. [...] Bitcoin came around and it was like ‘what?’ and I can just do it and it turns into that?” he said in reference to the booming price of the asset last year.

In a Reddit post on the r/Bitcoin Reddit community earlier today, users were questioning YG’s mammoth BTC stack, with AvoidMyRange stating that “the chance of all these ending at 0 and the cents ending in .00 is incredibly low. This is obviously fake.”

“It is fake because that isn’t even the layout of the ledger app,” user AKeveryday responded.

Other users saw the funny side of YG’s music-based BTC antics, with Redditor Lexstell11 doing the math on the lyrics from the Big Bank song when BTC was priced around the mid $7,000 range.

“In YG’s song Big Bank, he says ‘I might buy her red bottoms with the crypto- 3 coins that’ll pay your whole semester…’ the song was released on 5/25/2018 when BTC was $7,459 at close. So presumably YG paid $132,000 by today’s conversion for a girl's semester at what I’m assuming was University of Phoenix. I think about this a lot.”

Related: Year of sponsorships: Celebrities who embraced crypto in 2021

Crypto has attracted a strong cohort of rappers over recent years, with icons such as Jay Z and NFT-bull Snoop Dogg both making heavy plays in the sector. Other well-known figures to jump on the gravy train include Meek Mill who snapped up Dogecoin amid the hype last year, Nas who tokenized his music as NFTs earlier this year, and Post Malone who featured a Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT in one of his recent music videos.

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Kpop NFTs: Binance and YG partnership will prioritize sustainability

The two companies said that creating eco-friendly NFTs will be one of the primary concerns for future collabs.

A new partnership between global crypto exchange Binance and South Korean entertainment company YG will see the two companies strive for a more sustainable framework for future NFTs collaborations.

YG manages a number of notable Kpop stars including BLACKPINK, BIG BANG, and WINNER. The Feb. 8 announcement stated the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) will reportedly give Binance access to develop digital assets based on the IP (intellectual property) associated with these artists.

Although the two companies didn’t provide any specific details for any upcoming NFT collections, they did confirm that creating NFTs in an “eco-friendly way” will be one of the primary concerns of their future collaborations.

Global Head of Binance NFT Helen Hai said the platform will be working “closely with YG to create an eco-friendly ecosystem for NFTs.” She added that the company believes “that it is important to promote the use of sustainable blockchain platforms.”

YG CEO Bo Kyung Hwang shared the sentiment, adding that the companies hope to “steadily build an innovative and eco-friendly NFT ecosystem.”

Binance NFT is a multichain platform that uses the PoSA (Proof of Staked Authority) network, a consensus agreement protocol that is more eco-friendly and energy-efficient than Bitcoin’s.

As well as upcoming collaborations in the NFT space, the two companies also mentioned plans to develop Binance Smart Chain-based games and collaborate on building Metaverse projects.

An announcement about the MoU stated: “Binance will provide the NFT platform and technology infrastructure while YG will supply NFT content and gaming assets.”

Related: Singapore suspends exchange Bitget’s license over K-pop coin promotion

The partnership won’t be the first collision between Kpop and Web3. Most recently, U.S.-based Metaverse concert organizer Animal Concerts partnered with South Korea’s Klaytn blockchain network in January.

With a goal of bringing Kpop stars to the Metaverse, Animal Concerts will organize virtual concerts, as well as creating NFTs and merchandise for some of its top recording artists.

Meanwhile, in November last year Animoca Brands announced it will partner with Korean record label Cube Entertainment to build a “K-pop metaverse.”

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