The memes that made us...not feel bad about NFTs
We laugh through the pain. The greatest NFT meme trends of all time.
joshyote ✌️👽
May 05, 2023
gm ✌️
There’s been a lot of “laughing through the pain” for NFT collectors over the last two years.
Things have not been very pretty ever since Beeple’s Everydays: The First 5,000 Days NFT in March 2021. These types of eye-catching sales sometimes don’t even seem real when looking at current markets (though NFTs are gaining some steam once again in 2023 so far).
What’s the silver lining?
Well, there’s been a ton of time for NFT enthusiasts to process their pain and lift their spirits with some quality NFT memes to distract from bitter markets.
Memes have influenced some of the most common NFT projects like Bored Ape Yacht Club and sometimes are just about the only thing that can put a smile on our faces in some dark times for the crypto world.
What are some of the NFT memes that have changed the world with some absolutely priceless content? Keep reading for some of the best memes the crypto world has given us.
But first, here's a quick tutorial on how to be an upstanding NFT Degen for the uninitiated, or the super forgetful:
Step 1 is always "gm" — degens have manners
Step 2 is to pull up icy.tools, the best resource in the universe for discovering, tracking, and analyzing NFTs.
NFT memes Hall of Fame!
Fantastic GM Memes
What’s the friendliest way to greet someone in the crypto world?
Obviously with a funny “GM Meme.” GM is an abbreviated form of ‘Good Morning’ and a common way within NFT Twitter circles to drive engagement and obviously just be polite.
It’s not exactly clear when the GM meme trend emerged but some think it might have been as far back as January 2017. GM’s become so popular it’s even become a useful tool in the Web3 world to interact with others and stand out on Twitter timelines.
Here’s a few classic examples of the never-ending saga of GM NFT memes.
Funny NFT Rug Pull Memes
Rug pulls are absolutely not funny. This makes a good NFT rug pull meme useful for a little bit of solace amid a terrible situation.
Classic rug pulls entice investors to engage with a particular NFT project and then quickly disappear with project funds.
Unfortunately, NFT rug pull meme creators have several notable scenarios to draw inspiration from. In January 2022, the ice-cream-themed Frosties NFT collection rugged, with the creators managing to escape with about $1.3 million. U.S. law enforcement eventually arrested the fraudsters.
Sadly rug pulls won’t stop - so why should the memes? Here’s a few of the most iconic NFT rug pull memes.
Iconic Right-Click Save NFT Memes
Can't you just copy and paste NFTs and save a lot of money instead of actually ‘buying’ the digital asset?
It’s a saga as old as the NFT world itself, especially with the high prices of Bored Ape Yacht Club and CryptoPunks NFTs. Hence, NFT screenshot memes.
Right-click savers just love to jump on Twitter and hunt down the news of some of the most expensive NFT purchases to show off how they got the same digital image “for free.”
Today the right-click save meme is used as satire against those who don’t like crypto art and argue that NFTs are worthless.
Where did it come from? The meme gained steam when NFTs of iconic Internet art items like Nyan Cat sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Here’s a few examples of right-click save NFT memes mocking Internet users who think they carried out a ‘heist’ by just saving the NFT as a screenshot or photo.
Right-click save members are so passionate, the concept has even become an art form itself. Back in November 2021, Twitter personality nicodotgay downloaded 10,000 NFTs and created an entire collage of a person right-clicking.
Anti-NFT Memes That Might Make You Mad
Sometimes NFT memes ebb and flow in cycles. But one constant is a deluge of anti-NFT memes from those who still don’t see the value of digital art. It’s pretty easy to be anti-NFT when the crypto market remains stagnant which has led to a few initiatives against NFTs.
In May 2022, developers started to sign an anti-NFT pledge that highlighted the potential climate emergency that blockchain technology could usher in. The pledge was set up by Climate Replay which expressed concerns about the energy consumption patterns that NFTs and blockchain systems consumed.
A different group of ant-NFT users created what is known as EFTs (Extremely Fungible Tokens). These digital items are not unique and identical so they can be duplicated and shared.
EFTs have not really caught on (maybe only within the Right-Click save crowd) as some worry that they are still too similar to traditional systems.
Need some anti-NFT memes in your day? Here’s a few.
Steve Aoki NFT Memes?
What does famous DJ Steve Aoki have to do with memes? And with NFTs? Actually a lot. The long-haired award-winning recording artist has certainly not been shy about his love and interest in NFTs.
In 2021, Aoki said he made more money from NFT trading than he has from selling music. In fact, he made $888,888.88 alone on his “hairy” NFT collection. So what’s the catch?
Well, many within the NFT world are saying Aoki carries around a curse with him regarding NFTs due to the fact that projects Aoki buys seemingly drop in value a short time later. Former “blue-chip” projects like Azuki and Moonbirds coincidentally in the eyes of some dropped in value by a lot after news emerged about an Aoki buy-in.
Some have called Aoki’s misfortune a similar situation to the so-called “Drake curse.”
The purported idea stems from several examples of when soccer teams and players suffer misfortune soon after taking a photo with the musician. Italian club Roma even Tweeted in April that all club players were banned from “taking photos with Drake until the end of the season.” Wild!
So…. unsurprisingly… there’s a whole laundry list of Steve Aoki NFT memes. Here’s a few to enjoy.
We Need To Talk About The Kevin NFT Meme
Well, what’s this one all about? The story of Kevin NFT memes is actually about the silver lining of one of the most spectacular NFT failures in history.
The backstory is pretty simple. The Pixelmon NFT collection has a lot of hype back in 2021 and 2022 as the project raised nearly $70 million.
Many were excited about the endeavor's massive backing and looked forward to the reveal of the artwork. It totally flopped.
The price of Pixelmon NFTs quickly plummeted once the crypto community saw the artwork, which they felt was way below the quality that was needed. The mint price at the time of 3 ETH and many buyers felt like they were rugged after seeing the art.
But one of the ugly-looking NFTs rose from the ashes. Amid the drama, one of the digital assets was described as an “ugly zombie Squirtle.” started to surge in value.
The memorable aspects of “Kevin” quickly made him popular in the meme world and gave the Pixelmon project a bit of infamy.
Not So Stuffy Wall Street NFT Memes
It wouldn’t be right to talk about NFTs without a bit of a jab toward traditional financial institutions like Wall Street.
Crypto and NFT enthusiasts love to show how they believe blockchain tech, DeFi, and Web3 are superior to traditional brick-and-mortar finance. And you know, they might just be right.
In July 2022, Weiss Multi-Strategy Advisers became the first traditional financial services firm to launch an NFT. In a more cheeky move, an NFT collection of 10,000 “Wall Street Bulls” sold out in 32 minutes after its launch in October 2021.
The four co-founders managed to collect about $2.5 million from the initial sale after being inspired by the iconic ‘Wall Street Bets’ subreddit.
So anyway, enough about Wall Street.
Onto the Wall Street NFT memes!
NFT Memes Are Even Bringing Iconic Memes Back
One of the coolest parts about NFTs is that they are helping immortalize and commemorate some of the Internet’s most funny and memorable moments.
Part of this comes from the high prices of iconic memes that have helped drive attention and influence to the NFT space.
Some examples? The photo of the famous ‘Disaster Girl’ featuring a young girl with a mischievous smile before a burning house sold as an NFT for close to 180 ETH in April 2021. The famous Shiba Inu Doge meme sold for a staggering 1,696.9 ETH in June 2021. The Grumpy Cat meme of a displaced kitty sold for more than 44 ETH in May 2021.
The lady who was featured in the ‘Overly Attached Girlfriend’ meme managed to secure about 200 ETH after minting the iconic photo as an NFT. Kyle Craven - also known as ‘Bad Luck Brian’ - cashed in with thousands of pounds of crypto.
What's the takeaway from all of this?
It’s clear that NFTs and memes go hand in hand. NFT memes are a great way to get your mind off turbulent markets, a rug pull, or some other crypto calamity.
They also are just a great example of how creative the Internet can be in memorializing some pretty wild moments. Here’s to many more NFT memes and hopefully higher prices in the future!
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