Snoop Dogg @SnoopDogg
Cozomo almost immediately became a major player in the market
There was a new Twitter account named Cozomo de' Medici about a month ago, with the handle bearing the name of the Renaissance-era patriarch Cosimo de' Medici of the dynastic Italian banking family. Instead of dealing in Donatellos, the Twitter user's passion was NFTs, just like his eponymous ancestor. Cozomo became a major player in the market almost immediately, amassing a collection of CryptoPunks, Art Blocks, and other non-fungible tokens (NFTs) worth an estimated $17 million. NFTs have a strange cultural 'ponzi-nomics,' where no one wants to sell for less than the previous high price. It's like contemporary art, where no one wants to sell for less than the previous high price. The Twitter admirers came too: thousands followed the account. They found updates about new acquisitions sprinkled with investment advice.
Many assumed it was someone important
As more people on the internet began to speculate about Cozomo's true identity, the legend spread like wildfire. Isn't it safe to assume this was someone important? It didn't take long for speculators to get an answer. As of the 20th of September, Cozomo had a contest to find out who was behind the mysterious account. The anonymous source explained that a celebrity would use Twitter to publicly claim the Cozomo name, and the first person to notice the tweet would receive 1 ETH, roughly worth $3,000 in a gift.
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Later that day, rapper Snoop Dogg tweeted, "I am @CozomoMedici," putting an end to the speculation and sending the cryptocurrency community into a frenzy. It made sense in a way: the seemingly limitless sums of money, the Medici reference, and the oddly courtly tone of the tweets. Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr., aka Snoop Dogg, is a beloved and unpredictable hip-hop artist. Through his venture capital firm Casa Verde, he's proven to be an eager investor in tech companies, plant-based food companies, and cannabis startups.
It wasn't Snoop?
It's possible this all makes sense, but then again, it's possible this is all just a little too clever for its own good. It's a theory that some people are now pursuing online, at any rate. Recent investigations by Vice have found discrepancies between Snoop's social media geo-tags and those of Cozomo, an Italian rap artist who appears to spend much of his time in the country. Earlier this year, the NFT influencer shared a photo of himself and fellow collector Jason Derulo on the shores of Lake Como on his social media accounts. Both of their faces were obscured by avatars, but it was clear which one belonged to Derulo and which one did not, and the one who did not belong to Derulo was...well, it wasn't Snoop.
Cozomo de 'Medici with singer Jason Derulo @CozomoMedici
Irrespective of whether or not it's Snoop Dogg, this modern-day Medici has amassed an impressive collection of cryptographic artwork. There are also Cai Guo-Qiang NFTs and a character piece by XCOPY, which they bought for $3.9 million in ETH, which should keep the art world interested in them indefinitely.
Selena Mattei