True to his name, 50 Cent has insta-ditched the bits for cents, throwing away just like that an imaginary fortune of $8 million.
Previously believed to hold some 700 bitcoin sent to him as payment in 2014 for the Animal Ambition album, 50 Cent revealed to the bankruptcy court that he had actually instantly sold it all for what now with hindsight was worthless cash.
“I do not personally own, and have not owned, either a bitcoin account or any bitcoins,” he said in a court statement. While his lawyer said 50 Cent:
“Has never owned, and does not own, a bitcoin account or any bitcoins, and to the best of his knowledge, none of his companies had a bitcoin account from 2014 to the present.”
They do however admit that 700 bitcoin was paid for his album, but they say that was through a third-party which instantly converted it to fiat and sent them fiat, not crypto.
Who that third-party is remains unclear, but really there are only two choices, BitPay and Coinbase, with BitPay more likely as it is bigger.
Both provide a service where you can accept bitcoin and you can choose whether you receive actual bitcoin or you receive the fiat equivalent with many businesses choosing the latter due to volatility.
50 Cent’s story therefore is believable in the absence of contrary evidence by whoever the third-party was, making 50 Cent one of many who reminiscence what would have happened had they just hodled.
But as interesting as that is, his statement explaining why he did not contradict the media story is also somewhat amusing. 50 Cent says:
“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.
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.”
Fair enough, it would be a full time job otherwise, which he could have afforded to delegate if he had just hodled like a bitcoiner.
