Vitalik Buterin Changes His Profile Picture to a Milady NFT, Sending Ripples Through the Market

Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of Ethereum, has changed his social media profile picture to a Milady NFT, marking another high-profile endorsement

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has changed his social media profile picture to a Milady NFT, sparking renewed interest in the collection.

A year or so ago, Elon Musk drew attention to Milady NFTs with a meme tweet featuring artwork from the collection. Now, Buterin’s move has sent ripples through the NFT market once again.

But not all traders had a good night. According to blockchain data, one whale purchased 14 Milady NFTs for 94.46 ETH ($312,000) and sold them within 30 minutes for just 69.08 ETH ($231,000), making a loss of approximately $80,900.

Could Milady NFTs reach $100k? Milady Maker vs Pudgy Penguins & CryptoPunks

Milady and Pudgy Penguins are two of the most successful "new wave" NFT collections, challenging established players like CryptoPunks. Currently, Milady has a market capitalization of around $167 million, while Pudgy Penguins commands approximately $600 million and CryptoPunks leads at $1.2 billion.

Each collection has cultivated its own distinct identity in the crypto space: Pudgy Penguins have established themselves as the cute, family-friendly face of NFTs, while Bored Apes represent flashy crypto wealth and sometimes criticized "ape-in" mentality. Miladys, in contrast, have developed a reputation as the intellectual dark horses of the space, often associated with sophisticated traders and what some playfully call "evil genius hackers."

If Milady were to reach Pudgy Penguins' current market capitalization, each Milady NFT would be worth roughly $60,000, a significant increase from current prices. More dramatically, achieving CryptoPunks' valuation would put each Milady at approximately $121,500.

However, these projections come with significant caveats. NFT trading carries substantial risks, as demonstrated by yesterday's whale loss. The market is highly volatile and illiquid, meaning large positions can be difficult to enter or exit without significant price impact.

Milady’s Cult Coin Launch

In December afbeelding 2024, the Milady ecosystem expanded further with the launch of its CULT token following a successful $20 million presale. The launch featured an innovative claiming mechanism requiring participants to complete an IQ test, with a warning that failing would result in burned tokens. The test became part of the collection's memetic culture, with community members jokingly claiming they had failed what was reportedly an impossible-to-fail assessment. CULT achieved a peak market capitalization of nearly $500 million at launch before settling around $250 million after a 48-hour period, positioning it as a significant player in the memecoin landscape.

That being said, the CULT’s price action has been disappointing speculators in the subsequent month, with the overall market cap slowly drifting to under $70 million. Vitalik Buterin's unexpected embrace of Milady sent the price of CULT soaring over 100% up to $180 million market cap. It has now settled around $100 million.

The Controversy Behind Milady NFT

The Milady collection has been surrounded by controversy since its 2021 launch. The project's creator, Charlotte Fang, admitted to previously running a controversial online persona called "Miya" that was alleged to have connections to unsavory internet subcultures. A spin-off collection also sparked controversy over allegedly containing coded references to extremist imagery, though creators maintained these were randomly generated.

Despite these controversies, the Milady Maker NFT collection has shown remarkable resilience, attracting high-profile attention and maintaining significant value. However, potential speculators should approach with caution, understanding both the market risks and the project's