Sunmi is caught up in controversy after the NFT project she promoted made billions of KRW—only to lose most of its value, leaving investors frustrated.
According to Kyunghyang Shinmun on February 21, Sunmi, her agency, and a KOSDAQ-listed company launched the NFT collection Sunmiya Club in February 2022.
The project used blockchain technology to verify ownership of digital assets, turning illustrations inspired by Sunmi’s career into NFTs. Buyers were promised exclusive services to increase their investment value.
Thanks to Sunmi’s strong promotion, the NFTs were a huge success at first, selling out and making billions of KRW.
However, things took a turn when the NFT market crashed due to the Terra-Luna crisis and the bankruptcy of the U.S. crypto exchange FTX in late 2022.
By 2023, Sunmiya Club had stalled, and the once high-value NFTs dropped to just tens of thousands of KRW.
As investors faced major losses, some turned their frustration toward Sunmi. In response, the company behind the project stated, “We have fully followed the roadmap announced at the beginning and have continued operations.
The funds raised from the NFTs were used for operational costs and investments in a new platform launched last year.”
Despite the company’s defense, many are still questioning what went wrong and whether Sunmi will address the backlash.