NBA Legend Shaq Agrees To Pay $11M In Astrals NFT Lawsuit

NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal, known popularly as Shaq, has consented to a $11 million settlement in a class-action lawsuit tied to his promotion of the Astrals non-fungible token (NFT) project.

What Happened: After a year of legal wrangling, O’Neal agreed to the compensation to have the lawsuit dismissed, The Block reported Tuesday.

At the center of the lawsuit is a collection of 10,000 NFT 3D avatars based on Solana SOL/USD and a decentralized autonomous organization for incubating innovative projects.

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Why It Matters: The suit alleged that O'Neal, who was the face of Astrals, used his celebrity influence to encourage investors to purchase the NFTs. The lawsuit further claimed that O'Neal abandoned the project following the collapse of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX, causing a significant drop in the value of the NFTs.

The plaintiffs claimed that O'Neal was aware of potential regulatory concerns surrounding the selling of unregistered securities but still promoted them to expand his cryptocurrency business.

Earlier in August, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, Miami Division, dismissed the claim that O'Neal was a "control person," but upheld the allegation that Astrals sold “unregistered securities.”

Price Action: The floor price of Astrals NFT rose 115% in the last 24 hours to 0.153 SOL, or $36.39 at current market prices, as per NFT marketplace Magic Eden.

The NFT market recorded an 85% jump in sales volume for the week ending Nov. 17, as per the NFT market tracking platform CryptoSlam, coinciding with the gains in Bitcoin BTC/USD and the broader cryptocurrency market.

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