Who is the best dog? The 7 Most Expensive Meme NFTs Ever Sold

Last Monday, a photo of a puppy on a chain in a knitted beanie sold for less 4.3 million dollars.

Although such a statement may seem unlikely – and this may not make a big difference – the dog in the photo is not random, but Achi: Shiba Inu from the popular Internet meme Dogwifhat.

At over $4.3 million, the Achi NFT became the most expensive meme NFT ever sold. But it wasn't the first. Over the years, the healthy overlap of internet and crypto cultures has created some of the most famous memes of all time in NFT incarnations.

Here are the most expensive meme-inspired NFTs you've ever found.

1) Dogwife: $4.3 million

This week's big Dogwifhat NFT sale– He arrived on time 1,210.759 ETH, worth $4,311,234 at the time of purchase—The popularity of the original DogwhipHat meme, which appeared online in late 2019, has a lot to do with it. But more than anything else, this piece probably got such an eye-popping price due to the success of the WF runaway, the Solana meme coin inspired by the meme, which has exploded in value over the past few months.

Since its creation in December, it has WIF The sky is broken at a price. last week, The token has been registered 3 billion dollars Market capitalization, soon after many members of the WIF community rose About 700,000 dollars On the stage covered by the giant LED screen in Las Vegas, pet the dog that appears in the meme of Achin's face.

The NFT photo was sold by Achi's South Korean owners, earning $4.1 million for the sale after fees – in 2018. In 2018, more than you expected to get a photo of a random puppy, the auction coordinator way They spoke Decrypt. The photo is sold GCR, Famous Anonymous crypto traderauctioned by the Digital Art Forum Foundation.

2) Doge: $4.2 million

Prior to last week, the record for the most expensive meme-related NFT of all time was held by the godfather of all dog-related memes: the original Doge.

That sale made waves on June 11, 2021, when the NFT boom—the first photo of a doge meme taken by Japanese kindergarten teacher Atuko Sato's Shiba Inu kabosu—NFT It has been sold Millions of dollars (then first).

NFT ended up selling for more ETH than Dogwhiphat NFT: 1,696.9 ETH. Due to the low price of Ethereum at the time, this sum was about $4.234 million. The doge meme wasn't just related to internet culture at the time. It was also the foundation for crypto by inspiration. DogecoinThe first-ever meme coin.

“Doge is probably one of the most important memes in Internet culture,” said Santiago Santos, an investor at PleasrDAO, which bought Doge NFTs. They spoke Decrypt at the time.

PleasrDAO then proceeded to split Doge NFT into billions Fractional tokensa move that cost hundreds of millions of dollars and since then a General ecology Doge loving crypto users.

3) Pepe the Frog: $3.5 million

October 5, 2021 Original Pepe the Frog Genesis NFT—Created by Matt Fury, the artist behind the internet-famous green amphibian, once upon a time. Exactly-Sold for 1,000 ETH worth about $3.5 million at the time of sale.

Pepe, of course, is not just a cache in general internet circles; The meme has long been deeply intertwined with crypto culture, and was just as inspired last year. PepecoinEthereum meme coin that has seen huge success.

of Baby NFT Represents the first comic panel file drawn by Fury featuring the character created in November 2006. Sold to Starry Knight Capital for NFT Fund. Founded by crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital and an anonymous investor Vincent Van Dough In 2021

When there are three arrows He fell In the year In 2022, the liquidator behind the company's bankruptcy proceedings began with the NFTs in its hands. Sell ​​them To repay creditors. Just this week, as part of that liquidation process, Sotheby's sold Pepe NFT to a crypto executive. Andrew Kang for an unknown sum.

4) Charlie Bit My Finger: $760,999

One of the first YouTube's most popular videos, Charlie Bitfinger moved on the chain during the 2021 NFT craze. why? The official's parents, then toothless Charlie and his older brother, saw the success of other meme NFT sales and hoped to turn their viral time into money that could cover the two boys. College lessons.

The gambit actually worked: On May 22, 2021, the NFT of the video sold for $760,999 to Dubai-based collector 3FMusic. Initially, the family of the viral video planned to remove the video from YouTube after the sale to increase the NFT's popularity. 3 FM music It is reported They said they didn't care if the video stayed online, and so it remains on YouTube to this day.

5) Neon Cat: $590,000

Neon Cat, a pixelated animated pop-tart of a cat, first took the internet by storm in 2011. 10 years later, the creator of the image, Chris Torres, intends to sell the animation as an NFT. This piece received more interest than many expected and successfully launched meme NFTs as an asset class.

On February 19, 2021—just before NFTs become widely available Cultural consciousness—Torres sold Nyan Cat NFT for 300 ETH, then worth about $590,000, to an anonymous crypto user.

In the months that followed, several other creators of popular memes followed Torres' lead and began auctioning off their iconic images as NFTs—allowing them to meaningfully profit and take ownership of the pieces of Internet history they finally brought into being.

It became a trend not only for me but for many comic artists who have created anything since then. It was always kind of a struggle.” Torres They spoke Decrypt In 2021

6) Disaster Girl: $430,000

One of the first popular meme creators to follow Torres's lead was Zoe Roth, whose childhood photo of herself smiling in front of a burning building has since become internet shorthand for enjoying violence. A meme called Disaster Girl was a meme of the 2000s infrastructure.

In the year In mid-2021, the Roth Foundation will auction off the first photo NFT from the meme. On the 17th of April It has been sold For 180 ETH, then the price is roughly $430,000. This piece was completed by 3FMusic, an NFT collector who now owns many of the NFTs on this list.

7) Overly attached girlfriend: $411,000

Spring 2021 was peak time for meme NFT auctions; In fact, every piece on this list besides the reigning champion (DogWifehat) was sold in 2021, in the months following the partial sale of the Nian Cat.

Weeks after that NFT auction, Laina Morris—the content creator of the 2016

The sale went swimmingly with Morris Net 200 ETHThe digital token was worth $411,000 at the time. A piece went to NFT collector 3FMusic.

Edited by Andrew Hayward.