Famed rapper 50 cent, who in the past saw media reports claim he had $8 million worth of bitcoin piled up from accepting the cryptocurrency back in 2014 for his album Animal Ambition, never actually owned any bitcoin, according to court documents.
These documents show that the rapper had a third party company processed the BTC payments for him, so that he would receive the money in fiat currency. Instead of raking in $8 million by receiving and holding BTC, he probably made around $300,000 or $400,000.
The rapper further revealed that he didn't refute media reports because they made him look good. According to him, these reports showed it was a good business decision to accept bitcoin and support his personal brand by claiming he had made $8 million by doing nothing but holding.
He said:
"As a general matter, so long as a press story is not irreparably damaging to my image or brand, I usually do not feel the need to publicly deny the reporting... This is particular true when I feel the press report in question is favorable to my image or brand, even if the report is based on a misunderstanding of the facts or contains outright falsehoods.”