Why a Billionaire Collector Is Still Pouring Millions Into NFTs in 2025
The speculative frenzy around NFTs peaked in 2021–2022 and has long since cooled. Trading volumes are a fraction of what they once were, floor prices have slid, and mainstream attention has mostly moved on. Yet while many speculators have left the stage, some deep-pocketed collectors are quietly making their biggest moves now.
One of the most striking examples is businessman and collector Adam Weitsman. In 2025, he executed one of the largest private NFT deals of the year: the purchase of 229 Meebits in a single over-the-counter transaction. It is believed to be the biggest individual acquisition ever made from the Meebits collection, a project originally launched in 2021 by CryptoPunks creator Larva Labs.
For most traders, NFTs are a short-term bet. For Weitsman, they’re a long-term conviction play on digital culture.
The Meebits Deal: A Signal, Not Just a Purchase
Meebits have been central to Weitsman’s journey into Web3. He has said that this specific collection was his entry point into the space, and the 229-piece haul was as much a statement as it was an acquisition. By dramatically expanding his Meebits holdings at a time of widespread pessimism in crypto and NFT markets, he aimed to send a clear signal of confidence.
He deliberately chose a day when both crypto and NFT prices were sharply down—what he called one of the “reddest” days in the market. Rather than being spooked by the downturn, he leaned into it, emphasizing that he prefers to make major moves precisely when sentiment is most negative.
The transaction involved multiple high-profile intermediaries. The unnamed seller was represented by Charles Katz and Noah Davis of Fountain Digital, while Meebits Company (MeebCo) CEO Sergio “Sergito” Silva acted on behalf of Weitsman. The purchase price has not been made public, but the sheer number of NFTs and the prominence of the pieces involved suggest a substantial figure.
Silva, whose firm acquired the Meebits intellectual property from Yuga Labs earlier in 2025, praised the acquisition as an example of what originally drew many early adopters into NFT culture: long-term commitment, genuine relationships, and backing builders rather than chasing quick profits.
Collecting for Legacy, Not Liquidity
What sets Weitsman apart from much of the NFT market is his stance on selling. Unlike the majority of participants, he is not a trader. He has publicly stated that he has never sold a single NFT—and that he does not intend to.
For him, NFTs are not primarily financial instruments; they are artifacts of a formative period in digital history. He frames his collecting in terms of legacy rather than liquidity, emphasizing that he is motivated by his love of the artwork, the creators, and the cultural movement being recorded on-chain.
That philosophy stands in stark contrast to the speculative flipping that characterized the NFT boom years, when assets changed hands rapidly as traders tried to capture short-term gains. Weitsman’s approach is closer to that of a traditional art collector: patient, focused, and deeply invested in the narrative behind the pieces rather than their immediate resale value.
A Curated Haul: Rare Meebits in the Mix
The 229-Meebit acquisition was not just about sheer volume. It also included several highly coveted pieces within the 20,000-strong collection. Among the most notable:
– Meebit #16803, one of only 57 Skeletons ever minted, making it one of the rarest archetypes in the series.
– Meebit #367, an Elephant avatar sporting a Skull Tee—an unusual and sought-after combination of traits.
– Meebit #7063, a Human character featuring an ultra-rare Punk Tee, a subtle nod to the iconic CryptoPunks collection.
These details underscore that Weitsman is not simply scooping up floor-price assets; he is curating culturally and aesthetically significant pieces that may prove historically important if NFTs retain their relevance over time.
Deep Roots in Yuga Labs and the Otherside Bet
Weitsman’s conviction in Web3 extends well beyond Meebits. He is also a major supporter of Yuga Labs, the company behind Bored Ape Yacht Club and several other flagship NFT brands. Recently, he made a massive strategic bet on Otherside, Yuga’s ambitious metaverse project.
In a single deal, he acquired more than 5,000 Otherdeed land plots, along with high-value Mega Koda and Weapon Koda assets, buying them directly from Yuga Labs. After the transaction, he posted on X that he views this as a long-term investment in the future of the project and, by extension, in the broader NFT ecosystem.
He has also committed to making additional acquisitions on the open market over the course of the year, explicitly stating that he sees a great deal “riding on this project for the whole space.” In other words, he views Otherside not just as a speculative metaverse, but as a bellwether for whether NFT-native virtual worlds can mature into sustainable digital economies.
Expanding a Portfolio of Digital IP
Beyond Yuga-related projects, Weitsman has become increasingly active in acquiring entire NFT intellectual property rights. Earlier in 2025, he partnered with PenusDAO to take control of the CryptoDickbutts IP, in a deal orchestrated by Eli Scheinman, who is known for structuring major NFT acquisitions.
He has also purchased the HV-MTL NFT project from Faraway Games, which had itself previously obtained the project from Yuga Labs. By consolidating rights and ownership in this way, Weitsman is positioning himself not only as a collector of tokens, but as a key stakeholder in the underlying brands, characters, and story worlds.
This shift from owning individual NFTs to holding the IP behind full collections reflects a broader maturation in the space. Long-term players are increasingly thinking about how to develop, license, and expand these brands across games, media, merchandise, and other digital experiences.
Why Keep Buying in a Down Market?
From the outside, doubling down on NFTs in 2025 might look contrarian, if not outright risky. Trading volumes are down, speculative heat has cooled, and public narratives about NFTs often focus on their decline.
Weitsman, however, appears to see this environment as an opportunity. Lower valuations create entry points for large, strategic acquisitions that might have been prohibitively expensive during the mania of 2021–2022. For a collector who is unwilling to sell and thinks in decades rather than months, a bear market offers time to build a concentrated, high-quality portfolio without the distraction of constant hype.
His behavior also suggests he is betting that the core value of NFTs lies less in short-term price action and more in their role as programmable, ownable digital assets. In that frame, current market sentiment matters less than long-term adoption of on-chain identity, digital art, and interoperable virtual worlds.
The People Behind the Tokens
One recurring theme in Weitsman’s public comments is the importance of relationships. He speaks about backing Meebits in part because he trusts and admires Sergio “Sergito” Silva personally, describing him not only as a talented founder but also as a friend.
He frequently emphasizes that the individuals who stayed in the space after the speculative bubble popped—artists, builders, and dedicated collectors—are the ones sustaining the ecosystem. To him, Web3’s real value is rooted in creativity and community, and his collecting strategy is a way to reinforce that foundation.
Personal gestures seem to matter to him as much as high-value deals. He has shared stories of friends leaving handmade art gifts in his home, framing those experiences as reminders of why he fell in love with Web3 in the first place. These human connections help explain why he views NFTs less as entries in a portfolio and more as markers of shared history.
Meebits: From Early 3D Avatars to Evolving Storyworld
When Larva Labs launched Meebits in 2021, the project stood out for its 3D voxel characters designed for a then-emerging vision of the metaverse. The collection introduced 20,000 unique avatars, each tokenized on-chain and ready to be imported into virtual environments, games, and digital worlds.
Today, under the guidance of MeebCo and CEO Sergio Silva, the collection is undergoing a new phase of development. The focus has shifted toward storytelling, world-building, and expanding how Meebits can be used across platforms. For long-term collectors like Weitsman, this evolution is exactly what they are betting on: that NFT collections will grow into dynamic IP ecosystems rather than remain static profile pictures.
What Weitsman’s Strategy Reveals About the Future of NFTs
Weitsman’s activity in 2025 highlights a quiet but important trend: while short-term traders may have moved on, a subset of serious collectors, entrepreneurs, and builders are doubling down. Their strategies share several traits:
– A preference for blue-chip or historically significant collections.
– A focus on rare, culturally resonant pieces rather than mass speculation.
– A willingness to acquire IP and help shape the future of the brands they collect.
– A time horizon measured in years or decades.
For these participants, NFTs represent the early infrastructure of digital ownership and identity. Whether the market is up or down is secondary to the belief that a meaningful portion of human culture, creativity, and commerce will continue to move on-chain.
Legacy in a Tokenized Age
By refusing to sell, backing founders he believes in, and accumulating both iconic assets and full IP rights, Adam Weitsman is crafting a specific kind of legacy: one rooted in the earliest wave of on-chain culture. His stance may look extreme in a market obsessed with liquidity, but it aligns closely with how iconic traditional art collections were built—slowly, deliberately, and with a sharp eye on history.
If NFTs survive their first boom-and-bust cycle and mature into a lasting layer of digital culture, collectors like Weitsman will likely be remembered as the ones who kept building when the noise died down. For now, in a market many have written off, he continues to buy.