Nyan Cat Sells for 300 ETH

FEB 18 2021 · 12:00

Nyan Cat in flight. Chris Torres minted a one-of-one remastered NFT on Foundation for the tenth anniversary; it sold for 300 ETH on 18 February 2021. Place: Foundation marketplace, Ethereum mainnet Figures: Christopher Torres (PRguitarman), creator of Nyan Cat On the tenth anniversary of Nyan Cat (see [[nyan-cat-2011]]), Christopher Torres mints a one-of-one NFT of the original animation on Foundation. The auction closes at 300 ETH — approximately $590,000 at the closing block. The buyer is an anonymous wallet. The animation itself remains freely available on the open web; what changed hands is a signed token pointing at it. It is the first major Web3 monetization of an iconic GIF, and it triggers a brief minor genre. Within eighteen months, Pepe the Frog, Bad Luck Brian, Disaster Girl, Overly Attached Girlfriend, Side-Eyeing Chloe, and the Doge Shiba (Kabosu) all receive comparable NFT mintings, several at six-figure sums.