From NFTs to Dinosaurs: Crypto Elite Turn to Ultra-Rare Tangible Assets
A 69-million-year-old triceratops fossil has become the newest trophy among crypto’s wealthy investors amid a shift from digital collectibles.
Key Takeaways:
Wintermute’s Yoann Turpin and other crypto investors bought a rare triceratops fossil, signaling a shift from NFTs to ultra-scarce physical assets. The fossil sits in Singapore’s Le Freeport alongside tokenized gold, fine art and major crypto holdings. As some chase prestige collectibles, others push forward with regulated stablecoin projects in Malaysia.Wintermute co-founder Yoann Turpin and a small group of crypto investors have quietly purchased a fully intact dinosaur fossil, according to a recent Bloomberg report.
The fossil, one of only 24 known specimens, now sits inside Le Freeport in Singapore, a fortress-like storage facility owned by crypto billionaire Jihan Wu and often described as “Asia’s Fort Knox.”
Inside the Vault Where Crypto Wealth Meets Dinosaur Bones
When Bloomberg’s Suvashree Ghosh visited the vault with Turpin and co-owners including collectibles entrepreneur Chaw Wei Yang, the dinosaur wasn’t the only surprise.
The halls were lined with tokenized gold bars, fine art, rare wine, and hard drives holding hundreds of millions in digital assets, a real-world archive of crypto wealth that has spilled far beyond the blockchain, per the report.
Turpin told the media that the splurge was partly passion, partly prestige, echoing a trend that has swept through the upper tiers of the industry.
Just last year, Citadel’s Ken Griffin paid $44.6 million for a near-complete stegosaurus, the highest price ever for a fossil at auction.
For crypto’s nouveau riche, the shift from NFTs to fossils marks a broader turn toward ultra-scarce, tangible collectibles, assets that can’t suddenly vanish in a protocol upgrade.
However, while some crypto figures are digging up dinosaurs, others are building new digital-asset infrastructure.
Malaysia’s crown prince, Tunku Ismail Ibrahim, recently launched RMJDT, a ringgit-backed stablecoin under his firm Bullish Aim.
AirAsia parent Capital A and Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia are also exploring a ringgit-pegged token as part of the country’s digital asset pilot programs, signaling growing interest in regulated stablecoin projects.
Meta Retreats From Metaverse as AI Glasses Take Center Stage
As reported, Meta is reducing investment in its metaverse division and shifting its focus to AI-powered glasses and wearable devices, reflecting one of its biggest strategic resets in years.
The move follows rising investor skepticism over the commercial viability of virtual worlds and large-scale VR platforms.
The company has spent more than a decade and billions of dollars building out its metaverse vision, including rebranding to Meta in 2021.
However, user growth on Horizon Worlds has stagnated, and headset sales have repeatedly fallen short of expectations.
Bloomberg reported that metaverse spending may be cut by as much as 30%, a signal to markets that the company is rebalancing priorities.
Meanwhile, NFT sales have slumped to their lowest levels of the year, with monthly volume dropping to $320 million in November, roughly half of October’s total.
Early December data shows only $62 million in sales during the first week, signaling that the slowdown is likely to continue as demand for digital collectibles weakens.
The downturn reflects a steep drop in NFT valuations across the board. CoinGecko data shows the sector’s market capitalization has fallen to $3.1 billion, a 66% decline from January’s $9.2 billion peak.
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