Yahoo Finance $5.2 million: ‘Doge’ breaks NFT meme record
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A non-fungible token (NFT) of “Doge”, the adorable meme of a Shiba Inu, has made history after selling for over $5.2 million (US$4 million).
The sale has made Doge the most expensive meme NFT to date and was bought by a bidder named @pleasrdoa for 1,696.9 Ethereum - a form of cryptocurrency.
What is the ‘Doge’ meme?
The image of the dog we know as Doge comes from Atsuko Sato, who posted photos of her rescue Shiba Inu dog (whose real name is Kabosu) online in 2010.
The images went viral after taking off on Reddit, with the forum website declaring this specific Shiba Inu as “Doge”.
Doge is now also associated with Dogecoin, a popular cryptocurrency branded after the meme.
According to NBC News, a “portion of the proceeds from the sale of the NFT will go toward several charities, including the Japanese Red Cross Society and the World Food Programme”.
What have other NFT’s sold for?
A number of other NFTs have made headlines recently for their meme status or eye-watering auction price.
Recently the ‘Disaster Girl’ meme sold as an NFT for roughly $500,000, with the girl in the photograph saying the money would go towards school and various charities.
Additionally, the 2007 viral video of a baby biting his older brother’s finger sold for $986,000 (US$761,000). The “Charlie Bit Me” video sold in May after a 24-hour auction.
According to Luno, the top ten most expensive NFTs to date were:
Beeple’s “EVERYDAYS: THE FIRST 5000 DAYS”: $69 million
CryptoPunk #3100: $7.58 million
CryptoPunk #7804: $7.57 million
Beeple’s “Crossroads”: $6.6 million
Jack Dorsey (and Twitter’s) first-ever tweet: $2.9 million
CryptoPunk #6965: $1.6 million
Axie Infinity Virtual Game “Genesis” Estate: $1.5 million
CryptoPunk #4156: $1.5 million
Forever Rose: $1 million
Metarift: $904,413
What is an NFT?
NFT’s are assets stored on blockchain that hold unique codes and metadata. Most commonly, NFT’s are used in the sale of digital art as it reduces the risk of fraud.
To sell an image as an NFT means to sell the original image. There will be a unique code attached to that image, and while there may be copies, there can only be one original that carries that unique code.
According to Investopedia, NFTs shift the crypto paradigm by making each token unique and irreplaceable, thereby making it impossible for one non-fungible token to be equal to another.
“They are digital representations of assets and have been likened to digital passports because each token contains a unique, non-transferable identity to distinguish it from other tokens.”
NFTs are a great way for digital artists to protect their artwork online and ensure any copies are differentiated from the original art.
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