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Coinbase CEO confirms purchase of $25M ‘UpOnly’ NFT from Cobie

  • Coinbase paid $25M in USDC for Cobie’s UpOnly NFT.
  • The deal revives the UpOnly podcast for eight new episodes.
  • Cobie joked about returning, calling the sale “too absurd to happen.”

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has confirmed the $25 million purchase of the “UpOnly” NFT from renowned trader and podcaster Jordan “Cobie” Fish.

The purchase not only marks a major foray by Coinbase into NFT-driven media but also sets the stage for the long-awaited revival of the UpOnly podcast after a three-year hiatus.

Armstrong announced the acquisition in a post on X, writing, “The rumours are true, we bought the NFT. UpOnlyTV is coming back.”

The transaction, recorded on-chain, shows Coinbase paying 25 million USDC to Cobie for the token — a sum that astonished many in the crypto community given the NFT’s tongue-in-cheek origins.

The $25 million NFT

The UpOnly NFT was never meant to sell. When Cobie minted it in May 2025, he framed it as part of a humorous challenge, declaring that the show would only return if someone bought and burned the NFT.

“The power is now stored within this NFT,” Cobie wrote at the time. “When it’s burned, the podcast will restart.”

To make sure no one actually purchased it, Cobie set an absurdly high price, adding zero after zero until it looked impossible to buy — even as a joke.

However, Coinbase not only bought the NFT but reportedly paid more than its listed price.

In doing so, the exchange inadvertently activated the “burn-to-revive” condition, forcing Cobie and his co-host Ledger to return to the microphones for eight new episodes of UpOnlyTV.

From a joke to $25 million reality

The NFT’s description, written in Cobie’s trademark humour, grants its holder the right to “compel Cobie and Ledger Status into performing, like monkeys, 8 episodes of UpOnlyTV.”

It even allows them to “call the buyer idiots” or ignore them completely during production.

What began as a parody of NFT culture has now become a high-value contract tied to one of the largest crypto exchanges in the world.

For Coinbase, the deal signals more than a meme purchase.

The company has framed the acquisition as part of its growing content and media strategy — an effort to engage audiences beyond trading and exchange services.

By tying the revival of a well-loved podcast to blockchain technology, Coinbase is experimenting with how NFTs can blend digital ownership, creator incentives, and entertainment.

The rise, fall, and return of UpOnly

UpOnly first launched during the 2021 bull market, hosted by Cobie and Ledger.

The podcast became a fixture of crypto culture for its honest conversations with traders, fund managers, and project founders.

Guests often discussed market trends with a mix of sharp insight and irreverent humour, helping the show stand out in an increasingly noisy media landscape.

However, the show went silent in 2022, following the collapse of FTX and the broader crypto downturn.

For three years, fans wondered if UpOnly would ever return. Cobie repeatedly said no until the playful NFT idea changed everything.

Now, with Coinbase’s purchase, the show’s comeback is officially underway.

According to the NFT terms, Cobie and Ledger will produce an eight-episode season beginning on October 21, 2025 — nearly three years to the day after the podcast went dark.

In true Cobie fashion, the trader responded to the $25 million windfall with dry humour. “It’s been three years since UpOnly ended,” he wrote on X.

“I was in my 20s when it started, now I have grey hair.” He joked that he might rename the show “Unc Only” and spend the NFT proceeds on cosmetic surgery before the first episode.

Behind the jokes, though, lies one of the most unusual media transactions in crypto history — a deal that transformed a meme into a multimillion-dollar media contract.

The post Coinbase CEO confirms purchase of $25M ‘UpOnly’ NFT from Cobie appeared first on CoinJournal.

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Ethereum’s Vitalik Buterin applauds Polygon for pioneering ZK technology

  • He has praised Polygon and founder Nailwal for their contribution to Ethereum’s scalability.
  • Buterin highlighted Polygon’s early leadership in zero-knowledge technology.
  • Nailwal has participated in various humanitarian acts, including funding Balvi’s pandemic research.

The cryptocurrency market remains weak as Bitcoin’s fundamentals continue to weaken.

Amid the uncertainty, Vitalik Buterin has taken it to X to publicly praise Polygon and its founder, Sandeep Nailwal, for their remarkable contributions to scaling Ethereum.

Buterin commented on Polygon’s technical breakthroughs, especially its early investment in zero-knowledge EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine) development.

He further respected Nailwal’s humanitarian efforts that merged health initiatives with blockchain development.

I really appreciate both Sandeep Nailwal’s personal contributions and Polygon’s immensely valuable role in the Ethereum ecosystem.

Polygon’s influence on Ethereum’s growth

Buterin’s post emphasized Polygon as a cornerstone of Ethereum’s scalability, crediting the blockchain for hosting innovative applications.

For instance, Polymarket has seen remarkable traction as a non-monetary blockchain offering real-world value.

Moreover, Polygon has hosted multiple high-throughput.

It has also prioritized ZK-EVM development and research.

Vitalik applauded the project’s early collaboration with Jording Bayliba’s team, who helped the Ethereum ZK ecosystem thrive during its experimental phase.

Polygon put a lot of resources into ZK-EVM proving early on, both by bringing in Jordi Baylina’s team and through other efforts, and greatly helped in moving the space forward.

The Ethereum co-founder also praised Polygon for creating AggLayer, which aids proof aggregation.

Buterin believes these efforts reflect Polygon’s dedication to building innovative tools that strengthen the Ethereum ecosystem.

Nailwal’s humanitarian efforts

Besides Polygon’s technical success, Buterin also spotlighted Sandeep Nailwal’s humanitarian drive and personal integrity.

For instance, his CryptoRelief initiative donated crypto assets to support India’s biomedical infrastructure.

In a gesture that demonstrated Nailwal’s integrity, the Polygon co-founder refunded SHIB tokens worth $190 million that Buterin had sent to the relief fund.

Buterin later channeled these funds to launch Balvi, an anti-pandemic project focused on indoor air safety and refining global health.

He voluntarily returned $190M of the proceeds from the SHIB token that I donated, which made the whole Balvi open-source anti-airborne-disease biotech program possible and possibly accelerated our understanding of important anti-pandemic topics like clean indoor air by years.

ZK technology and what’s next

Besides his appreciation, Buterin reflected on Polygon’s current advancement crossroads.

While the POL ecosystem pioneered ZK tech, the landscape has matured.

For instance, ZK-centric teams like Risc Zero, Brevis, and Succinct Labs now work independently from L2 networks.

Buterin trusts that such separations boost specialization as each team showcases its full capabilities.

Furthermore, Buterin urged Polygon to adopt “off-the-shelf ZK tech for enhanced security within its proof-of-security chain to align with Ethereum’s vision for L2 scalability.

Indeed, ZK has adopted a user-friendly approach, with each transaction costing $0.0001 to prove.

Altcoins Ethereum and Polygon’s POL underperformed today as selling activities dominate the broader cryptocurrency landscape, losing up to 5% of their value in the past day.

The post Ethereum’s Vitalik Buterin applauds Polygon for pioneering ZK technology appeared first on CoinJournal.