Miami nightclubs say crypto nerds paid for bathtubs filled with champagne

Some nightclubs in Miami revealed that fallen cryptocurrency entrepreneurs were once big spenders who used to buy bathtubs filled with champagne.

As cryptocurrency exchange companies like FTX filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and the value of digital coins decreases, it caused the owners to reminisce on the days young entrepreneurs visited the venues and lived out uxurious lifestyles.

In a report from Financial Times, Andrea Vimercati, the food and beverage director at Moxy Hotel Group, told the outlet that the entrepreneurs were purchasing “12 or 24 bottles” of the priciest champagne and “showered themselves” in it.

Sign upto our free Indy100 weekly newsletter

“They were booking tables for $50,000, and it was like, ‘Who the hell are these people?’” he said.

The director also said that most of the young men there had a “kind of nerdy style” and that it wasn’t evident that they “had a lot of money.”

The Financial Times also spoke with Gino LoPinto, the operating partner at another Miami nightclub E11even, who said the crypto business people entered the club in June 2021 to celebrate what they said was a successful sale of their business.

And when they celebrated, he said rapper 50 Cent performed, and they had the bathtubs of bubbly displayed.

It was over $1m, and they “paid in crypto.”

LoPinto added: “They had bathtubs of champagne brought out and gave 50 Cent a bunch of cash to throw,” LoPinto said.

In April 2021, E11even started accepting cryptocurrency payments at the nightclub, and LoPinto revealed that the establishment processed $6m of transactions between April and December of that year.

Flash forward to 2022, crypto partiers may feel the effects after FTX, the exchange cryptocurrency company founded by Sam Bankman-Fried, plummeted.

Earlier this month, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after it was discovered that Bankman-Fried used the customer funds to make risky bets with Alameda Research, their sister firm.

The deterioration of FTC was a complete shock as Bankman-Fried, who was worth more than $15bn, was considered “the next Warren Buffet.”

It also came as a surprise due to the company’s roster of influential people who cosigned it, including Tom Brady and Steph Curry.

Bankman-Fried took to his Twitter to speak about the bankruptcy filing, apologising for the outcome.

“Hopefully, things can find a way to recover. Hopefully, this can bring some amount of transparency, trust, and governance to them.

“Ultimately, hopefully, it can be better for customers,” he tweeted on 11 November.

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.