Pseudonymous $69M Beeple NFT Buyer MetaKovan Reveals True Identity

Vignesh Sundaresan said he wants to show Indians and people of color they could be art patrons, too.

AccessTimeIconMar 18, 2021 at 12:45 p.m. UTC
Updated Sep 14, 2021 at 12:28 p.m. UTC

"MetaKovan," the hitherto pseudonymous buyer of the $69.3 million Beeple non-fungible token (NFT) last week, has come out into the open.

  • The investor revealed his true identity as Vignesh Sundaresan via a blog post on the Metapurser website Thursday.
  • Sundaresan said, "The point [of revealing himself] was to show Indians and people of color that they, too, could be patrons, that crypto was an equalizing power between the West and the Rest, and that the global south was rising."
  • MetaKovan appeared on CoinDesk TV's "First Mover" Tuesday to explain his reasons for spending $69.3 million on the Beeple NFT "Everydays" and why he chose to remain anonymous.
  • Blockchain reporter Amy Castor had theorized in recent days that MetaKovan might be Sundaresan.
  • According to his LinkedIn profile, Sundaresan is CEO of Singapore consulting firm Portkey Technologies and co-founder of bitcoin ATM provider Bitaccess. He is a Y-Combinator alumnus, according to his own website.
  • As MetaKovan, he's also the founder of the Metapurse NFT project.
  • The pseudonymous "Twobadour," who is also involved in running Metapurse, revealed his identity as Anand Venkateswaran in the same post.

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