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The rapper and crypto investor recently launched his newest non-fungible tokens (NFTs) collection. The NFT collection is called Baked Nation, and it runs on the Cardano (ADA-USD) blockchain, not Ethereum (ETH-USD).
Snoop Dogg is not new to the cryptocurrency scene — he is one of 37 investors in Yuga Labs, the people behind the Bored Ape Yacht Club — so the fact he’s chosen Cardano over Ethereum suggests more big-name celebrities could be contemplating the same.
I don’t think holders of Ethereum need to worry about the rapper’s latest move.
It’s most likely a calculated decision on Snoop Dogg’s part based on the amount of public relations he figures he’d get from a project run on Cardano versus Ethereum. The fact that the media are talking about the snub proves that it was a good idea.
However, while I don’t think you need to sell your ETH-USD just yet, it is an indication that people involved in the NFT and Metaverse space are looking seriously at alternatives such as Cardano and Solana (SOL-USD), which are faster and cheaper than Ethereum.
“This is a remarkable milestone as this is the first celebrity to jump ship from Ethereum to Cardano, which is subsequently causing a lot of hype. NFTs are about brand and identity and Snoop Dogg is clearly having fun finding another identity outside of hip-hop — he released a music video a couple of weeks ago that was made entirely in the sandbox metaverse,” Marcus Sotiriou, an analyst at GlobalBlock, told the Markets Insider.
In the end, Ethereum has a stranglehold on NFT trading. According to Defi Llama, the blockchain accounts for 97% of all the NFT trading volume, or $19.85 billion, compared to $29.4 million for Cardano.
It’s also important to remember that Cardano’s price is down almost 31% year-to-date compared to — 18% for Ethereum. Further, Ethereum remains the second-largest cryptocurrency at $372 million, more than 10x Cardano.
It will take more than Snoop Dogg to knock Ethereum off its perch, but it’s something to be mindful of in 2022 and beyond.
On the date of publication, Will Ashworth did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.