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A Meme is an image or video that resonates by depicting the thoughts and feelings of a specific audience.In the past few years, memes have often been used to joke or evoke resonance.As a social phenomenon, memes also develop with the people who use them.With the increasing popularity of blockchain and NFT, NFT has become the latest vector for viral meme.

The rise of NFT

Why can the rise of the lucrative meme market and the use of blockchain properties change this subculture?First, we need to understand the characteristics of the NFT and its importance to the artists.NFT are inhomogeneous tokens, often cast on public chains such as Ethereum, allowing creators to connect directly with customers and have full control of their assets.The reason artists accept NFT is because it brings more efficiency and allows them to bypass intermediaries, including auction houses, to gain more from their creation.

In 2021, his NFT work sold for $69 million, triggering an NFT boom.Artists around the globe also realize that they can follow Beeple's success.So we soon saw the creators of the viral meme casting their work into an NFT, thus triggering a huge meme gold rush.

For example, the viral YouTube video "Charlie Bit My Finger" was converted to an NFT and sold for $760,999.Other similar NFT's include "Nyan Cat", "Overly Attached Girlfriend" and "Disaster Girl", which all found buyers in NFT markets like OpenSea and sold for up to $590,000.

Monetize the meme using the NFT

For artists, the Meme Gold Rush has become a popular trend.Before the popularity of NFT and blockchain, artists were often marginalized because the memes they created were indefinitely forwarded or used by all.Now, with the NFT, the original creator of the meme can cast its work into an NFT and very easily sell it to the highest bidder.On the other hand, buyers can also be protected from the original work by the blockchain, giving them the ability to truly own the work.This blockchain-based rights and anti-counterfeiting creates a win-win situation for artists and customers.

However, the NFT gold rush has also adversely affected the global meme community.Although the user is free to disseminate a copy of the meme, a copyright dispute may arise if the purchaser or owner finds that his work is intentionally or unintentionally used in business without permission.To prevent this, some of the leading social media channels are removing NFT memes from videos.

For example, videos of "Charlie Bit My Finger" are no longer available on YouTube, but copies may exist on other channels.The trend appears to be rising.NetGems is a digital agency that represents the artists behind the popular video memes, such as "Two Pretty Best Friends" and "The Crazy Nastyass Honey Badger", who also deleted their works (including these videos) when converted into NFT auctions.

Will the NFT impact the Internet native culture

Industry insiders believe that the NFT meme gold rush may limit the spread of the Internet native culture, because the flow of information is blocked to some extent.Moreover, when a viral meme is removed and monetised (converted to NFT), likes, sharing, or comments from the original video image link can be permanently lost (hit reviews are often as interesting as the work itself).Nevertheless, with the development of the Internet and NFT, it is still worth looking forward to how the blockchain technology can run in and continuously innovate with the Internet culture.

 *The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of SparkDAO. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.