You probably know who “Pepe the Frog” is, right?
If you’re a fan of memes, bombarded with meme contents, or simply saw propaganda against former U.S. President Trump, then there’s no way you can’t recognize him.
He is that popular.
But the question is, have you seen who created him? We mean, the one who originally drew him?
It turns out that the person behind the famous frog is a man named Matt Furie. And even though he saw his creation blast into fame and was used in all sorts of things without his permission, he hasn’t lifted any fingers.
But this time, Furie wouldn’t hold back anymore
He’s now bent on taking back his creation again, not through legal actions, but in a very interesting and creative way ー through NFTs.
Thanks to Furie’s cousin, Frank Muara, a multimedia artist, the “Pepe” creator was smitten by the wonders of NFTs and had a great idea to use it as a means to reclaim his frog again.
The mystery buyer
And he was lucky with his decision. After years of not profiting from his popular creation, Furie finally had windfall when his “Pepe the Frog” NFT art was sold for $1 million! It was bought using 420 ethereums by a mystery buyer codenamed “punk4156”.
Furie also added enthusiastically that “this new space (the NFT) is laying the groundwork for the Internet 3.0.”
When interviewed by Whitehot Magazine of Contemporary Art, the mystery buyer said that “Pepe Frog” was so popular and widely copied. That’s why the original one should be considered as the “Mona Lisa” of our time.
Meanwhile, Furie’s cousin, Musarra, felt vindicated with “Pepe Father’s” victory. He said: “The NFT space allowed him to claim something that was his.”
Image courtesy of Cointelegraph News/YouTube