Remember the ‘Frienship ended with Mudasir’ that took over the Internet in 2015? Now six years later, the meme is getting auctioned by a Lahore and London-based startup, Alter as an NFT artwork.
NFTs (Non-fungible tokens) are digital codes that allow people to purchase digital artifacts via crypto/blockchain technology. Think of an NFT as a fingerprint that is unique, and hence cannot be copied. In March, an NFT artwork by Mike Winkelmann AKA Beeple sold for $69 million. That’s huge, right?
Pakistani meme, ‘Frienship ended with Mudasir: Now Salman is my best friend’ is one of a kind – probably the first one that went viral on social media. The original post received 10,000 shares and inspired various imitations. It will be on sale today, which marks International Friendship Day.
“We are about to mint and auction a 1/1 NFT of the meme ‘Friendship Ended with Mudasir’ for World Friendship Day (30th July).”
Zain Naqvi, Alter’s Co-founder told SAMAA Digital that the meme is being auctioned on Foundation, the world’s largest platform for NFT listings. The minimum bid price is 1 Ethereum token or $2320.
‘Frienship ended with Mudasir,’ set to auction
The meme was posted by Muhammad Asif Ali Rana on Facebook, as he announced his new best friend to the world. It became so popular, that even international celebrities and media houses used it.
“Thematically, it [World Friendship Day] would be a great time to market and launch this meme, due to its impactful relevance,” said Zain Naqvi.
When asked why they chose this particular meme, he said that majority of the local memes are about local events, but this one was used around the globe and has greater relevance in that context.
People have used this meme in political discussions lasting over three American presidents, that is from Barack Obama to Donald Trump and Joe Biden, he said. From international celebrities to large media houses, everyone used the meme, but nobody paid the original creator, Asif Rana for it.
Hence, the largest chunk or majority of the auction proceeds will go to the creator. Alter will also keep a portion of it while the rest will go to pay Foundation’s fee.
The startup aims to bridge the gap that content creators from emerging economies face when they are trying to connect with the latest trends and disruptive technologies. The current gap, it says, leads to creators missing multiple opportunities via the western market.
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