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.
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