NFT losses grow as Steve Aoki acquires BAYC and sells SHIB and ETH

According to Arkham Intelligence, Grammy-nominated producer and DJ, Steve Aoki is quietly exiting the cryptocurrency market. The data shows that the producer and DJ sold nearly $30,000 worth of Shiba Inu (SHIB) and Ethereum (ETH), and quickly transferred the proceeds to Gemini, the regulated exchange.

Steve Aoki is off the market.

Steve Aoki, a DJ and former NFT influencer, just sold $30,000 worth of SHIB and ETH, transferring the proceeds to Gemini.

He still has 7 Bored Ape NFTs that he paid over $800k for in 2021. Each one is now worth just $13.8k. pic.twitter.com/w4boNLm60o

– Arkham (@Arkham) April 13, 2026

His remaining on-chain holdings are not that significant, and include small, unknown tokens, the kind that typically remain in a portfolio after the bull market hype has passed.

This is no ordinary sale because Steve Aoki was a promotion person She deniedIt’s back to its beginning. He’s been part of a 2021 boom with “to the moon” tweets, NFT events, and collaborations with big names that have made digital art seem like a celebrity trend.

Now, with the market slowing down, and with this news, he is clearly selling everything he has left and abandoning cryptocurrencies. But the real story, and the real loss, lies in what is still held: seven NFTs from the Bored Ape Yacht Club.

From noise to huge losses

Aoki acquired the existing NFTs at the peak of the frenzied market in 2021, with their total falling by more than $800,000. Each one fetched top dollar prices amid the frenzy, with BAYC floor prices rising to the equivalent of $400,000 in ETH.

Celebrities like Eminem, Snoop Dogg, and Justin Bieber It piled up, fueling a cultural momentum where owning a spotted monkey meant access to exclusive events, drops in merchandise, and a supposedly “cool” investment.

Fast forward to today, and those same monkeys are now trading at a heartbreaking $13,800 apiece on markets like OpenSea. This meant 98% of his collection was wiped out, and nearly $1 million evaporated.

Aoki isn’t the only one, BAYC has come down from all-time highs, reflecting the broader NFT market’s 90%+ decline since the rally. Trading volumes, previously in the billions, are now falling at rates in the low millions per month.

Aoki’s journey with BAYC was the height of the NFT summer. He has given ape-themed concerts, minted his own compilations, and even released “The world of Steve Aoki“NFT has been linked to his music empire. In 2021 interviews, he spoke passionately about the technology’s revolutionary potential, mixing EDM beats with blockchain bragging rights. However, as Ethereum gas fees rose and the hype waned, the shine faded.

Why old NFT novels are struggling to regain momentum

according to com.waleswoosha popular CT figure, Steve Aoki’s situation is just another example of why legacy NFT metas are struggling to recover.

The reason the old meta never comes back is because the illusion is gone.

The most common thing you hear from portfolio holders is, “Next time the stock trades this high, I’ll sell it.”

But that is exactly why it will never trade at that high level again.

He needs the illusion of “higher”.

Bored monkeys arrive…

— wale.moca 🐳 (@waleswoosh) April 13, 2026

He believes that once the illusion of an endless uptrend is broken, it is almost impossible to recreate it. And in cases like Steve Aoki’s, where emotions have already cracked, the entire psychological state has shifted, from excited to out of fluidity.

The most common mindset among stockholders becomes: “If the price gets anywhere near the previous highs, I’ll sell.” Ironically, this is exactly what is preventing prices from reaching those highs again.

Moreover, Wilsoch explains that major sell-offs, like the Bored Ape Yacht Club that touched extreme valuations, were only possible because people believed prices could go much higher. Likewise, whether cryptocurrencies reach a billion-dollar value depends on the common belief that the market is still early.

But in situations like Steve Aoki’s, this belief has already been broken, stockholders are now more defensive than optimistic and any upside is likely to be met with selling pressure.

In his view, once price discovery is “done,” the speculative premium disappears. What’s left is a market full of participants waiting to exit, not chasing high prices.

He also adds that this applies broadly across groups like Azuki and Doodles, where a return to all-time highs is more likely to trigger a mass sell-off than renewed hype.

Final thought

Steve Aoki’s exit highlights how radically sentiment has shifted since the NFT boom. As Welsh points out, once this belief is broken, markets lose their fuel. Without new narratives or strong demand, even the best groups like Bored Ape Yacht Club are struggling to regain their previous highs.

Read also: Web3 Gaming NFTs have officially become non-securities under US law