Taking stock of the seven most expensive Meme NFTs in history

Author: CryptoT God

Last Monday, a photo of a dog on a chain wearing a woolen hat sold for just over $4.3 million. This transaction makes this Achi NFT the most expensive meme NFT in history. However, this is not the first time that high-priced meme NFTs have appeared. Over the years, the intersection of the internet and crypto culture has spawned a series of meme NFTs that have become household names.

The following is a list of the meme NFTs with the highest transaction prices in history.

Dogwifhat: US$4.3 million

Last week, the Dogwifhat NFT sold for 1,210.759 ETH, worth $4,311,234 at the time of transaction. This sky-high price is largely due to the popularity of the original Dogwifhat meme online since late 2019. But the work’s eye-popping price may be due more to the huge success of Solana’s meme coin WIF, which has seen its value skyrocket in the past few months, inspired by Dogwifhat.

Since its creation in December last year, WIF’s price has soared, with its market value breaking the $3 billion mark last week. Not long ago, several WIF community members raised nearly $700,000 to put Achi’s face on a giant spherical LED screen outside the Sphere in Las Vegas.

Doge: US$4.2 million

Until last week, the record for the most expensive meme NFT in history was still held by Doge, the originator of all dog memes.

This record was produced on June 11, 2021. It caused a sensation during the heyday of the NFT industry. It was sold for millions of dollars for the first time. The original image was taken by Japanese kindergarten teacher Atsuko Sato. Photo of Shiba Inu Kabosu. This photo was also one of the inspirations for the Doge meme.

The NFT was eventually sold at a higher ETH price than the Dogwifhat NFT: 1696.9 ETH. However, due to the low price of ETH at the time, it was approximately equivalent to $4.234 million. The Doge meme was not only an integral part of the internet culture at the time, but also formed the foundation of the crypto world, as it inspired the first meme coin, Dogecoin.

Pepe the Frog: $3.5 million

On October 5, 2021, the original Pepe the Frog Genesis NFT created by Matt Furie sold for a staggering 1,000 ETH, when Valued at approximately $3.5 million. The green amphibian that took the internet by storm was once exploited by the far right, but is also beloved by many.

Pepe not only enjoys a high reputation in the general Internet circles, but has also been closely intertwined with encryption culture for a long time. Last year, it inspired the wildly successful meme coin Pepecoin on Ethereum.

Pepe NFT represents Furie’s drawing in November 2006 's first multi-panel comic file depicting the character. The buyer is Starry Night Capital, an NFT fund formed in 2021 by crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital and anonymous investor Vincent Van Dough.

Charlie bit my finger: $761,000

During the NFT craze in 2021, one of the classic videos on YouTube, “Charlie Bit My Finger” also joined the blockchain world. The video captures a bonding moment between teething protagonist Charlie and his brother. At the time, Charlie and his brother’s parents saw the success of other meme NFTs and decided to convert this family video into an NFT to raise money to pay for their children’s college tuition.

This strategy was very successful: On May 22, 2021, the video’s NFT was sold to Dubai-based collector 3FMusic for $760,999. Initially, the family planned to remove the video from YouTube after selling the NFT to enhance the uniqueness and value of the NFT.

Nyan Cat: US$590,000

< p>In 2011, Nyan Cat took the Internet by storm with its pixel animation of a sandwich-like cat figure, created by artist Chris Torres. Ten years later, Torres is considering selling the iconic animation as an NFT. The interest generated by this NFT far exceeded expectations, and it basically opened up the concept of meme NFT as an asset class.

On February 19, 2021, when the cultural communication power of NFT had not yet reached its peak, Torres sold the Nyan Cat NFT to an anonymous crypto user for 300 ETH (worth $590,000 at the time) . In the months that followed, many other famous meme creators followed Torres' lead and began auctioning off their iconic images as NFTs. This move allows them to finally gain meaningful reward and clear ownership for the piece of internet history they created.

Disaster Girl: $430,000

Zoe Roth was one of the first legendary meme creators to follow in Torres’ footsteps. As a child, she took a photo in front of a building that was on fire, with a wicked smile on her face. This meme later became a classic expression on the Internet that expresses "gloating at one's misfortune". This photo, known as Disaster Girl, is one of the most influential foundational memes of the early 21st century.

In mid-2021, Roth will be auctioned on the NFT platform Foundation An NFT of the original photo of the meme. The NFT was sold for 180 ETH on April 17, 2021, and was worth approximately $430,000 at the time. The piece was eventually purchased by collector 3FMusic, who currently holds multiple NFTs on the list.

Overly Attached Girlfriend: $411,000

The spring of 2021 is the heyday of Meme NFT auctions. With the exception of the winner (Dogwifhat), every piece on this list was sold in 2021, within a few months of Nyan Cat’s groundbreaking sale.

Laina Morris was permanently dubbed the "Overly Attached Girlfriend" in a 2012 meme. Shortly after the Nyan Cat auction, Morris began exploring blockchain technology and auctioned NFTs of the meme photo on Foundation.

The sale was very successful, and Morris received 200 ETH, which was worth approximately $411,000 at the time. This work was also collected by NFT collector 3FMusic.