- Budweiser is the latest major company to enter the NFT and crypto space.
- The beer brewer purchased a Bud-themed space rocket NFT and the domain name 'beer.eth'.
- More and more companies are tapping into NFT hype as the digital assets enter the mainstream.
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Budweiser bought a non-fungible token (NFT) of a space rocket emblazoned with its logo to use as its Twitter image, and snapped up the domain name beer.eth, the beer brewer confirmed to Insider this week.
The Anheuser-Busch subsidiary garnered attention from the cryptocurrency community on Wednesday after it uploaded a Bud-themed rocket, part of artist Tom Sachs' Rocket Factory NFT project. It also tweeted three space-rocket emojis, which are often used by meme-stock buyers and crypto fans to signify that an asset is 'going to the moon.'
"Budweiser is taking its first steps into the NFT universe. We're excited to support Tom Sachs and his Rocket Factory project and join this incredible community," a Budweiser spokesperson told Insider.
NFTs are digital assets like pieces of art, audio clips, virtual sports cards, or even tweets, which are tied to blockchain networks. Each NFT is therefore unique and almost impossible to edit or duplicate, making them popular among artists. Often anyone online can still view NFTs, but there's only one verified owner of the token on the blockchain.
The Rocket Factory project was launched earlier this year and allows people to purchase parts of a NFT rocket, which they can then create in the real world if all parts of a NFT rocket are put together. The physical rockets are then assembled and launched – according to the project's Medium page, the first flights will take place on August 28.
Budweiser paid 8 ether coins (worth $25,000 at time of writing) for the rocket, according to NFT platform OpenSea. Records show that the beer brewer also purchased the domain name 'beer.eth' for 30 ether (worth $94,000 at time of writing), under which the rocket and other NFTs are stored on crypto platforms.
Budweiser is the latest major company to move into the NFT and crypto space, joining the likes of Coca Cola and Marvel in creating and selling the digital assets to consumers.
The popularity of NFTs has soared throughout 2021 and the market shows no signs of slowing - close to $1 billion has been spent on NFTs across nearly 300,000 sales in the past 30 days, according to data from nonfungible.com. Still, experts say there is still a long way to go before the tokens reach the mainstream and adjustments have to be made in terms of affordability and accessibility.