Meme NFTs: A Lucrative Fusion of Internet and Crypto Culture

In the world of NFTs, internet memes have become a lucrative commodity. Recently, an on-chain photo of a puppy in a beanie sold for over $4.3 million, becoming the most expensive meme NFT ever. This sale follows a surge in the popularity of meme NFTs, with iconic images such as Doge, Pepe the Frog, and Charlie Bit My Finger fetching millions of dollars in recent years.

Meme NFTs: A Lucrative Convergence of Internet and Cryptocurrency Cultures

On a recent Monday, the digital realm witnessed an extraordinary transaction: a JPEG depicting a puppy adorned in a knitted beanie sold for a staggering $4.3 million. While such a sale may elicit amusement or disbelief, the subject of the image was no ordinary canine, but Achi, the iconic Shiba Inu immortalized in the ubiquitous "Dogwifhat" internet meme.

The Dogwifhat NFT not only shattered records as the most expensive meme NFT ever sold, but it also epitomized a growing trend: the convergence of internet culture and the cryptocurrency world. Over the years, the vibrant overlap of these two realms has given rise to a plethora of NFTs inspired by some of the most recognizable memes of all time.

A Retrospective of the Most Costly Meme-Inspired NFTs

1. Dogwifhat: $4.3 Million

The astronomical success of the Dogwifhat NFT, which fetched 1,210.759 ETH (worth $4,311,234 at the time of purchase), can be attributed in large part to the popularity of the original meme, which emerged online in late 2019. However, the NFT's eye-watering price tag was also fueled by the meteoric rise of WIF, a Solana meme coin inspired by the meme that has experienced an explosive surge in value in recent months.

Since its inception in December, WIF's market capitalization has skyrocketed, reaching a record $3 billion last week. This surge was further propelled by a group of WIF community members who raised nearly $700,000 to display Achi's visage on Sphere, a colossal LED screen-covered arena in Las Vegas.

The NFT photo was auctioned by Achi's South Korean owners, who netted an impressive $4.1 million after fees. This sum far exceeded their initial expectations for the photo of their puppy, which they had casually taken in 2018, according to Path, the auction coordinator. The NFT was purchased by GCR, a prominent pseudonymous crypto trader, via an auction on the digital art platform Foundation.

2. Doge: $4.2 Million

Prior to last week's record-breaking sale, the title of most expensive meme-related NFT belonged to the progenitor of all dog-related memes: the original Doge.

This sale made headlines during the height of the NFT boom on June 11, 2021, when an NFT of the original photo that inspired the Doge meme, taken by Japanese kindergarten teacher Atsuko Sato of her Shiba Inu Kabosu, sold for millions of dollars.

The NFT ultimately sold for a higher amount of ETH than the Dogwifhat NFT: 1,696.9 ETH. However, due to Ethereum's lower price at the time, that sum equated to approximately $4.234 million. The Doge meme not only became an integral part of internet culture, but it also played a pivotal role in the development of cryptocurrencies, inspiring Dogecoin, the first-ever meme coin.

"Doge is perhaps one of the most important memes of internet culture," Santiago Santos, a member of the investment collective PleasrDAO that purchased the Doge NFT, told Decrypt at the time.

PleasrDAO subsequently divided the Doge NFT into billions of fractionalized tokens, a move that generated hundreds of millions of dollars in value and has since fostered an entire ecosystem of Doge-enthusiastic crypto users.

3. Pepe the Frog: $3.5 Million

On October 5, 2021, the original Pepe the Frog Genesis NFT, created by Matt Furie, the artist behind the internet-famous green amphibian that was once co-opted by the alt-right, sold for a whopping 1,000 ETH, valued at approximately $3.5 million at the time of sale.

Pepe has garnered widespread recognition not only in general internet circles but also within crypto culture. As recently as last year, the meme inspired the creation of Pepecoin, an Ethereum meme coin that has enjoyed significant success.

The Pepe NFT represents the file of the first-ever comic panel drawn by Furie depicting the character, created in November 2006. It was acquired by Starry Night Capital, an NFT fund established by crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital and pseudonymous investor Vincent Van Dough in 2021.

When Three Arrows collapsed in 2022, the liquidator responsible for the firm's bankruptcy proceedings seized NFTs in its possession and began selling them off to repay creditors. As part of this liquidation process, Sotheby's brokered a sale of the Pepe NFT to crypto executive Andrew Kang for an undisclosed sum just this week.

4. Charlie Bit My Finger: $760,999

One of the most iconic videos from the early days of YouTube, "Charlie Bit My Finger," made its way onto the blockchain during the NFT craze of 2021. The parents of the titular, teething Charlie and his older brother, inspired by the success of other meme NFT sales, hoped to transform their viral moment into funds that could potentially cover both boys' college tuitions.

Their gamble proved successful: on May 22, 2021, an NFT of the video sold for $760,999 to Dubai-based collector 3FMusic. Initially, the family planned to remove the video from YouTube after the sale to enhance the NFT's significance. However, 3FMusic reportedly expressed indifference to the video's continued online presence, and it remains on YouTube to this day.

5. Nyan Cat: $590,000

Nyan Cat, a pixelated animation of a cat with a Pop-Tart for a torso, first took the internet by storm in 2011. Ten years later, the image's creator, artist Chris Torres, decided to sell the animation as an NFT. The piece garnered far more interest than anticipated, effectively launching the concept of meme NFTs as an asset class.

On February 19, 2021, just before NFTs became a mainstream phenomenon, Torres sold the Nyan Cat NFT for 300 ETH, then valued at approximately $590,000, to an anonymous crypto user.

In the ensuing months, numerous other creators of famous memes followed Torres' lead and began auctioning their own iconic images as NFTs, enabling them to finally profit meaningfully from and assert ownership over the pieces of internet history they had created.

"It kind of became a trend, not just for me, but for many meme artists that created anything since then. It's always been kind of a struggle," Torres told Decrypt in 2021.

6. Disaster Girl: $430,000

Zoe Roth, one of the first legendary meme creators to emulate Torres' path, was a toddler when she posed in front of a burning building with a subtle smirk that has since become synonymous with taking pleasure in chaos. The meme, known as Disaster Girl, became a cornerstone of internet humor in the 2000s.

In mid-2021, Roth auctioned an NFT of the original photo from the meme on Foundation. On April 17, it sold for 180 ETH, then valued at approximately $430,000. The NFT was acquired by 3FMusic, the NFT collector who now owns multiple NFTs featured on this list.

7. Overly Attached Girlfriend: $411,000

The spring of 2021 marked the zenith of meme NFT auctions; in fact, every piece on this list except the current champion (Dogwifhat) was sold in 2021, in the months following the groundbreaking sale of Nyan Cat.

Just weeks after that NFT auction, Laina Morris, the content creator immortalized in a 2012 meme as 'Overly Attached Girlfriend,' ventured into blockchain technology herself, auctioning an NFT of the photo from the meme on Foundation.

The sale was a resounding success, with Morris netting 200 ETH, valued at $411,000 at the time, for the digital token. The NFT was purchased by NFT collector 3FMusic.