FaZe Banks responds to backlash after criticizing popular Hapebeast NFTs

FaZe Clan owner Ricky ‘Banks’ Bergstrom has responded to backlash after he criticized the insanely popular ‘Hapebest’ NFTs that are soaring in hype.

The growth of NFTs in 2021 especially has been remarkable, continuing into the new year, and Banks has been a huge driving force when it comes to influencers pushing the popularity of these pieces of digital art. From CryptoPunks to Bored Apes, to just about any piece created by Beeple, the most expensive NFTs can sell for millions of dollars. While Hapebeast pieces aren’t quite at that level — they haven’t even been revealed yet, with reveal currently scheduled for February 1 — they’ve quickly become insanely popular. The collection of 8,000 apes, styled with the ‘Hypebeast’ look seemingly finetuned to perfection, hasn’t managed to convince Banks, however.

In a series of posts to his Instagram story, Banks explained why he looked into Hapebeast — which has been renamed to HAPE Prime — and decided not to buy in, despite the hype behind it.

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Banks said: “I’ve kept my eye on it and based on the Twitter Spaces I just heard I am hard passing on this one. Just not for me. Won’t get into it, ‘cause there’s no point, but I felt the need to share cause I’ve been asked so much.” He then said that after speaking about it, he had people with the Hapebeast profile picture “talking sh*t” to him. So he explained: “First of all the very first thing I hear in the Spaces is about how roadmaps are bulls**t and all these other projects are over-promising and that they don’t need a roadmap and those are based in “fiction.” Then immediately go on to promise this being the “fashion winner” in NFT’s.”

Banks added: “This project’s only driver is its hype. That’s clearly what the thing is rooted in, hype. The IP is a literal play on Hypebeast. Artificially/ marketed Discord with way too many people in it … My honest answer is I believe anyone buying this @ 9 ETH (+$20,000) is going to get super f**king rekt and it pains me to see that … Made some people mad with this one, but I guess that’s the cost of being honest.” Banks’ opinion on the Hapebeast project is clearly one he feels very strongly about, and it’s also one that those in the NFT space take seriously. Since his posts, the floor price has dropped from 9.25 ETH to around 7.69 at the time of writing, despite the continuous drop in value of ETH.