An age-old question of how to monetize memes appears to have found an answer. This afternoon, the storied internet sensation, Nyan Cat, sold for 300.00 ETH (about $590,000) in an online auction. It wasn’t the .gif file that was sold, which is still reproducible and found everywhere online, but a cryptographic hash of the psychedelic image on the Ethereum blockchain.
Chris Torres, who created the meme 10 years ago, confirmed the sale and his role in it over email. This was his first experiment with nonfungible tokens (NFTs), a type of digital asset that has taken the crypto scene by storm recently. NFTs, like Bitcoin, are provably scarce and uniquely identifiable. They’ve found application in the world of digital art, as well as more earth-bound industries.
“I am still relatively new to crypto in general, but I see its full potential,” Torres said. The sale took place on the crypto art platform Foundation, which launched just two weeks ago. The auction was open for 24 hours, with bids starting at 3 ETH.