- Coinbase paid 25 million USDC for Cobie’s UpOnly NFT.
- The deal triggers the revival of the UpOnly podcast with eight new episodes.
- Cobie joked about returning and called the sale “too absurd to happen.”
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has confirmed the acquisition of the “UpOnly” NFT for 25 million USDC from well-known trader and podcaster Jordan “Cobie” Fish.
The purchase is not only a major bet by Coinbase on NFT-driven media, it also paves the way for the long-awaited return of the UpOnly podcast after a three-year hiatus.
Armstrong announced the acquisition in a post on X, writing: “The rumors are true, we bought the NFT. UpOnlyTV is coming back.”
The on-chain transaction shows Coinbase sent 25 million USDC to Cobie for the token — a sum that surprised many in the crypto community given the NFT’s tongue-in-cheek origins.
The $25 Million NFT
The UpOnly NFT was never meant to be sold. When Cobie minted it in May 2025, he presented it as part of a humorous stunt, saying the show would only return if someone bought and burned the NFT.
“The power is now stored in this NFT,” Cobie wrote at the time. “When it is burned, the podcast will restart.”
To ensure nobody actually purchased it, Cobie set an absurdly high price, adding zeros until the sale seemed impossible — deliberately framed as a joke.
However, Coinbase not only bought the NFT but reportedly paid more than the listed amount.
By doing so, the exchange unintentionally activated the “burn-to-revitalise” condition, obliging Cobie and his cohost Ledger to return to the microphones for eight new episodes of UpOnlyTV.
From a Joke to a $25 Million Reality
The NFT’s description, written in Cobie’s trademark humor, grants the holder the right to “force Cobie and Ledger Status to perform, like monkeys, 8 episodes of UpOnlyTV.”
It even allows them to “call the buyer idiots” or ignore the buyer entirely during production.
What began as a parody of NFT culture has now become a valuable contract tied to one of the world’s largest crypto exchanges.
For Coinbase, the deal represents more than a meme purchase.
The company frames the acquisition as part of its expanding content and media strategy — an effort to engage audiences beyond trading and exchange services.
By linking the revival of a beloved podcast to blockchain technology, Coinbase is experimenting with how NFTs can combine 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 in crypto culture for its candid conversations with traders, fund managers, and project founders.
Guests often discussed market trends with a mix of sharp insight and irreverent humor, helping the show stand out in an increasingly noisy media landscape.
The show went quiet in 2022 after 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.
Under the NFT’s terms, Cobie and Ledger will produce a season of eight episodes starting on October 21, 2025 — nearly three years to the day since the podcast went dark.
True to Cobie’s style, the trader reacted to the unexpected $25 million windfall with dry humor. “It’s been three years since UpOnly stopped,” he wrote on X.
“I was in my twenties when it began, now I have gray hair.” He joked about renaming the series “Unc Only” and spending the NFT proceeds on cosmetic surgery before the first episode.
Behind the jokes, however, lies one of the most unusual media transactions in crypto history — a deal that turned a meme into a multimillion-dollar media contract.