What Coinbase CEO, Paris Hilton & McDonald’s Have in Common? NFT

Paris Hilton. Source: A screensot, parishilton.com

You may think that major crypto exchange Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, celebrity socialite Paris Hilton, and the fast-food giant McDonald’s would have almost nothing in common – but non-fungible tokens (NFTs) unite people and organizations from all walks of life.

As Coinbase prepares for the upcoming direct listing, its CEO announced his collaboration with a DJ called David ‘DAVI’ Khanjian in order to release three original songs in the form of NFTs. “The theme of one of the songs is about building great stuff with technology, and never giving up,” he said. The songs will be released “over the coming days” on the NFT auction house and a Coinbase Ventures portfolio company Zora.

Per his Twitter thread, the CEO had been a long-time fan of electronic music and DJ DAVI, listening to it while coding up the early versions of Coinbase as well. As many people took up hobbies during the COVID-19 pandemic, he got free music lessons from DAVI. All proceeds from the sale of the NFTs will go to the DJ, said Armstrong.

4/ We created these songs over the past year as a fun way for me to learn Ableton Live etc. To be clear – 99% of the talent comes from him, but it was fun for me to work on them none the less.

— Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) April 7, 2021

Meanwhile, Paris Hilton, who had previously said that she was “excited” and “fascinated” by the world of NFTs, published a long post on her website explaining the benefits of NFTS. She stated that NFTs are “a way to innovate, empower others and push the boundaries of how artists interact with their fans. [It’s] the future of the creator economy.”

Paris announced that she plans “to go big with NFTs, innovating, investing and collecting,” with her first drop coming soon.

I’m so excited about #NFTs! Here’s why I think #NFTs are the future & everything you need to know to get in the game! https://t.co/mZHqsVqn9Z

— Paris Hilton (@ParisHilton) April 7, 2021

As reported, internet entrepreneur Kim Dotcom hinted in March that he and 1980s star MC Hammer would be working with Hilton on an NFT release that he claimed may fetch up to USD 30m.

While these two drops are incoming, McDonald’s France hopped on the NFT train as well. They decided to launch digital art pieces showcasing some of their most popular and most famous menu items. First announced were Chicken McNuggets and Big Mac, stating that some days shouldn’t be missed and “09.04. is one of them,” accompanied with the hashtag ‘McDoNFT’.

Soon after, they announced NFT artworks of fries and sundae as well.

#McDoNFT 09.04.2021 #NFT pic.twitter.com/eOrGyF568y

— McDonald’s France (@McDonaldsFrance) April 6, 2021

Per la Réclame, the videos are tokenized in collaboration with communication consulting agency DDB Paris and the OpenSea marketplace, making five copies of each work, and a total of 20 unique works. These will be up for winning in Instagram and Twitter contests between April 9 and April 18.