It’s no secret to veterans and the newly instructed DeFi “degens” that memes are as native as Web3. Satoshi’s Bitcoin White Paper To Bitcoin. And when it comes to anthropomorphic characters surrounded by the entire world of NFTs, there is nothing better than cryptocurrencies. Pepe the frog.
Pepe may not have received much attention or attention these days like Bored Apes or CryptoPunks, but there’s no need to look any further for signs of Pepe’s lasting appeal in the NFT world. Called “Pepenopoulos” (created in 2016) Sold for $ 3.6 Million at Sotheby’s Auction..
Peer-to-peer marketplace first released as NFT in 2016 Counterparty, Pepe the Frog dates back to 2006. At this time, Matt Furie’s comic “Boys clubA few years later, with the explosion of social media like the Cambrian, the character quickly evolved into a stand-alone meme and became popular on Myspace and 4chan.
By 2015, a variation of the rare cartoon amphibian called Pepe began to appear with the following watermark: “Don’t save rare pepeIndicates that the artist behind each design has not yet published a public meme. That year, a collection of 1,200 rare Pepe images was posted on eBay. It has reportedly reached a price of $ 99,166. Before being removed from the site.
Design in addition to the many vague and bizarre expressions of eating Pepe’s smoking joints and animated flying pizza, as seen by the infamous twin frog version from Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining” adaptation. Included occasional crypto-cultural satire Winkel Pepe..
Diversion of the alt-right
But Pepe also dimmed in 2015, the same year that Donald Trump announced a bid for the presidential election. This is the beginning of a controversial era in American politics.
Rare Pepe variations were born during this period. This included links to the alt-right movement on themes such as Nazi Germany, the Ku Klux Klan, and white supremacism. Despite the relatively harmless nature of Pepe itself, such a link between memes and politics was further solidified after Trump won the election.Contains notable examples Parody movie poster In the “The Expendables” image posted on Instagram by Donald Trump Jr., Pepe is with Trump, Trump Jr., and other men in response to comments from Trump supporter Hillary Clinton. Standing It belonged to the “basket of sad things”.
Blog post Hillary Clinton’s website later criticized the use of comics, We call it “a symbol related to white supremacism”. But Trump Jr. Denied knowledge Of the dualistic intercultural role of frogs.
In an interview in September 2016 Esquire, Matt Furie responded to Pepe’s usage as a symbol of hatred. “That’s terrible, but you can’t control more than you can control frogs on the Internet.” Also published by Fury publisher Fantagraphics Books. statement Condemn “illegal and repulsive diversion”.
Despite that month Add Pepe to its hatred symbol database, The Anti-Defamation League said that most cases of Pepe were not used in situations related to hatred.
In the editorial time In October 2016, Frie wrote, “I understand it’s out of my control, but in the end, Pepe is exactly what you say, and as a creator, I say Pepe is love.”
Pepe’s progress towards NFT
Pepe the Frog and its derivatives, Rare Pepes, have moved to irreplaceable tokens appearing in market counterparties. Founded in 2014 by Robert Dermody, Adam Krellenstein, and Evan Wagner, Counterparty was built on an openly distributed Bitcoin network, allowing users to create tokenized assets.
Due to rising demand for on-chain collectible assets First rare pepe Mined in Block 428,919 In the Bitcoin blockchain in September 2016, long before the term “NFT” was commonly used, it was actually as respected as the 2017 Ethereum-based NFT collection. CryptoPunks According to Larva Labs.
With the progress of Ethereum and increased market support in 2017, a larger community has begun to grow around digital collectibles, and developers are creating more platforms to help catalog and exchange digital images. rice field. In the fast-growing art-centric crypto market, creators can publish their work in the form of digital tokens in a fixed distribution and publish art to collectors who sell, trade, or store their collections. ((((And then in September 2020 Ethereum emblem vault Traders can wrap Rare Pepe in early 2016 in Ethereum ERC-721 tokens and transfer it to an Ethereum compatible wallet for sale. )
In this active activity, including growth Rare Pepe Telegram Chat GroupJason Rosenstein — Founder of Auction House Part .io— Host the first live Rare Pepe Auction At the inauguration Unusual digital art festivalSelling Pepe’s Diptych inspired by Salvador Dali.
Wallet, cash, card, documentary
With Pepe becoming an NFT, Pepe encryption applications and content became popular.
The Rare Pepe WalletCreated by the developer Joe RooneyIs an encrypted digital warehouse that can be used by counterparty traders and collectors to buy, sell, gift and destroy rare Pepe.
The wallet also allows traders and collectors to use PepeCash as a medium of exchange.according to Rare Pepe Directory, PepeCash is created as the currency of Pepesphere and is similar to other cards in the comprehensive collection, but with a much higher circulation of about 700 million. PepeCash can be purchased at counterparties DEX (decentralized exchange) or exchanges such as Zaif in Japan and Tuxedo Exchange in Canada.
PepeCash is primarily used to pay for sending Rare Pepes to directories and wallets, but the RarePepe community integrates PepeCash into. game..
All of these are, of course, opaque and intimidating to beginners.
Although it exists Financial resources For the first rare pepe collector like Rare Pepe Directory(Catalog of all known rare Pepe), some enthusiasts of the Pepe community like Matt Garcia took him to Twitter to help with the rough stuff. Buying guide..
But some buyers didn’t need help, like Peter Kell, who bought the precious One of One Homer Pepe for $ 39,000 in 2018 at RareAF, the first digital art auction in New York. Kell has been saying since then He knew well at the time that many considered it a quirky purchase. With the advent and popularity of early collections like CryptoPunks a few years later, Kell sold Homer Pepe for $ 312,000 in March 2021.
And there was the premiere of Pepe at the Sundance Film Festival.
An American documentary film about a meme called “Feels Good Man” in 2020 Premiered at Sundance Film Festival He also received the Special Jury Prize for Emerging Filmmakers and the Research Award for News & Documentary Emmy.
Arthur Jones’ directorial debut, Feels Good Man, came after Pepe’s creator Matt Furie regained control and tried to redeem Pepe after being hired as a member of the alt-right. ..
Given the online virality and the legacy of Pepe the Frog in cryptocurrencies, it was appropriate for Matt Furie to work at the NFT Marketplace in October 2021. chainaw.fun introduce FEELSGOODMAN Rare Pepe Card..
Recognizing the long-standing discrepancy between Bitcoin and Ethereum’s greatestists, the NFT creator team released it on both the Bitcoin blockchain (via). Xchain) And Ethereum.
After the announcement Loonardo Joe VinciThe creator of the pseudonym of Rare Pepe Wallet, Tweet For cards with almost romantic tones, “Now you have a rare Pepe directory.”
Send the best decryption directly to your inbox.
Deliver daily top stories, weekly summaries, and deep dives directly to your inbox.
