Degen Insider Is Brought To You By Menace.com Crypto Sportsbook & Casino
Sup fellow degens,
Alright, news time. Coinbase just pulled one of the most degen and wildest moves I’ve seen in crypto this week.
They dropped $25 million in USDC to buy an NFT tied to the defunct UpOnly podcast that went silent in late 2022.
The NFT and rules in question
Context
The UpOnly podcast was once one of those crypto projects that describes itself as “childish, unprofessional and bizarre" and prioritises entertainment instead of alpha moves.
It spent its prime days riffing on market mania, NFT drops, the rise and fall of projects, and the “everything is f***ed until it isn’t” ethos that the space thrives on.
Fans loved it and cherished its authenticity as everything is always saturated with polished marketing fluff, and it was a breath of fresh air, to see just insiders, jokes, chart calls, and real talk.
The show wound down in 2022, right in the aftermath of the FTX collapse (which had sponsored the podcast) and amid the broader crypto winter fatigue.
Fast-forward, and Cobie (a co-founder of UpOnly) pulled a move only a true entertainment degenerate could envision: he minted a $20M NFT that says “buy me, burn me, and I’ll bring UpOnly back,” with ZERO assurances except the eight-episode clause.
It was literally a joke as he set the price so high on purpose, no one would actually buy the token. “You couldn’t set a dollar amount on OpenSea, so I just kept adding 0s.”
Now why would Coinbase buy this?
Good question, sir.
Buying 8 episodes of a podcast that has been inactive for 3 years for a huge amount of money and having NO rights for content, guests, sponsors etc., seems illogical.
UpOnly can literally go ahead and make 8 episodes saying how horrible Coinbase is.
So why would they buy an NFT for $25M?
Coinbase’s timing was chef’s kiss. On the very same day, its platform suffered major outages, including issues with Base (its layer-2), where users saw zero balances. A huge number of users were pissed off. So when the NFT news dropped, the narrative shifted instantly. Instead of rants about “Coinbase down, my funds gone,” X, reddit, and crypto news channels lit up over “Coinbase bought the UpOnly NFT?”
Now come the memecoins. Tickers like UPONLY and COBIE on Base exploded, (7000%+ gains) mere hours after the news broke.
We will have to see what comes next and if truly Coinbase will not try to push their narrative on the podcast as an official sponsor.
For me, one thing is clear tho: I’m all for this kind of chaos.
This is peak crypto: a bit of a marketing stunt with a sparkle of an experiment. Degeneracy winning over degeneracy.
I hope Cobie and Ledger come back swinging, same unfiltered energy, and no sellout vibes.
Welcome back, guys!
What the hell; I want them to actually make fun of Coinbase just for the sake of the joke and the circus of it all.
TL;DR: Coinbase bought a $25M NFT from Cobie’s defunct UpOnly podcast, instantly hijacking the narrative after platform outages. Memecoins pumped, timelines exploded: peak crypto degen energy.
Stay degen,
Dima
Who is Menace Dima?
Look, I could bore you with my "professional bio" – you know, the whole "20+ years in the gambling industry" spiel, the $100M+ portfolio, or how I've had my fingers in every gambling pie from affiliate marketing to running major operators.
But here's what you really need to know: I'm the guy who's probably lost (and won) more money than most, has the wildest degen stories you've never heard, and still can't resist a good bet. Whether it's dropping stacks on MMA fights, grinding poker until sunrise, or testing every new casino game that hits the market – I've done it all, and I'm still doing it.
These days, I'm repping Menace.com (yeah, that name goes hard) as their ambassador, but more importantly, I'm here to be your inside man. The guy who's seen the industry from every angle – from boardroom to bathroom floor – and lived to tell the tales.
Stick around if you want gambling content that isn't just another boring guy in a suit telling you about odds. This is about to get interesting.
Follow me elsewhere:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/menacedima