ECCENTRIC rockstar Gene Simmons never shied away from the spotlight or bold decisions during his music career. A trend he has continued in recent years with heavy investments in cryptocurrency.
But what is Gene Simmons’s net worth? And what cryptocurrencies has he invested in?
Who is Gene Simmons?
Gene Simmons is an Israeli-American musician who is the frontman of the hard-rock band, KISS.
Born on August 25, 1949, Simmons spent the first eight years of his life living in Israel before moving to New York with his mother.
He is said to have decided he wanted to join a band after watching girls scream at The Beatles on television.
As a teenager Simmons performed in a number of bands, attempting – unsuccessfully – to get signed by a record label. At the age of 21 in 1972 he set up a new band called KISS which managed to sign a contract with Casablanca Records a year later in 1973.
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Throughout the 1970s, KISS was a commercial success, winning a number of awards and even being named the most popular band in America in 1977. They also topped the charts in Japan, Canada, Sweden and Germany.
KISS continued to tour with various band members all the way up until 2009.
Gene Simmons’s crypto investments
Gene Simmons started investing in Bitcoin in 2020 during the pandemic. After a conversation with Gemini CEO Tyler Winklevoss, the KISS frontman claims he invested over $1million in Bitcoin.
In February 2022 he even put his house on the market saying he would accept payment for the property in crypto.
He said that he was willing to accept Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Uniswap, Polkadot, Litecoin, Aave, Try or a combination of the tokens for his $13.5million Las Vegas mansion.
Explaining his decision, Simmons said at the time: “I have been an outspoken proponent of cryptocurrency from the beginning.
“It is the future of money, and it just makes sense to offer interested parties the option of using cryptocurrency to purchase the estate.”
Meanwhile, in June of the same year, the former rock star said that he had invested in 14 different cryptocurrencies.
It is known that he owns Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ether, Dogecoin, XRP, and Cardano, but it remains unclear what other tokens he has purchased.
Boasting about his investments, he said in 2022: “I’ve done very well.”
What is Gene Simmons’s net worth?
Gene Simmons is thought to have a net worth in excess of $400million.
Despite his large crypto holdings, the majority of Simmons’s net worth related to his time as a rock star. His band, KISS, has generated over $1billion in licensing fees since the 1970s.
Simmons owns half the rights to KISS alongside his bandmate Paul Stanley.
It means he has learnt significant sums from his music career over the past half a century.