Nyan Cat NFT: Soaring Through Starry Skies
Nyan Cat is an animated pixel art NFT collection created by the artist behind the iconic internet meme.
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The first drawing of Nyan Cat appeared during an online charity event in 2011. At the request of viewers, artist Chris Torres combined a cat and a Pop-Tart, adding a rainbow trail. The inspiration for the image was Christopher's cat, Marty, who sadly passed away a year after becoming a meme.
Nyan Cat Drawing. Source: Official Know Your Meme Website.
After the event, the artist created a pixelated GIF animation based on the drawing. It featured a cartoonish, smiling cat with a Pop-Tart body flying through space, leaving a rainbow trail behind. According to the artist, he didn’t expect anything extraordinary, so after a few hours of work, he simply uploaded the result to social media and went to sleep.
The next day, he was in for a surprise: the animation had gone viral, spreading across the internet at an unprecedented speed. Just three days later, a user named saraj00n uploaded it to YouTube, overlaying it with a Japanese cover song “Nyanyanyanyanyanyanya!” This is when the name Nyan Cat emerged, and the meme became a sensation, topping charts and even winning the Webby Award (2012) for “Meme of the Year.”
People started creating thousands of their own remixes, redesigns, stickers, apps, and games. After securing copyright, Torres began receiving official requests to use his work from companies like Google and Nike. Despite trying not to limit the creative uses of Nyan Cat on the internet, he occasionally had to resort to legal action against even major corporations, as was the case with Warner Bros.
Several companies have used my artwork [without permission]. And it’s funny, all this time, Nyan Cat has kind of been free on the internet, everybody has been able to use it. But, as an artist, before NFTs, I never saw a dime for that,
Torres shared.
The Nyan Cat NFT collection emerged ten years later. Similar to his other digital series (Nyan Balloon), Torres updated the original animation before minting, increasing the resolution and fixing flaws using Macromedia Fireworks. Initially, a single NFT with the classic design was released on the Foundation platform, selling for 300 ETH ($1 million at the current rate), and the collection was later expanded with other unique versions.
Each piece was hand-drawn to avoid so-called “compression artifacts” (defects that occur from image compression, often seen in JPEG/MPEG formats). The collection features various amusing versions related to New Year, glitch effects, pirates, and other popular themes. Unlike the classic design NFT, most new versions are issued in multiple tokens, slightly reducing their rarity. For instance, there are fifty Demonic Nyan Cat NFTs. Demonic Nyan Cat
Nyan Cat Collection. Source: Official OpenSea website.
The collection includes 1455 NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain with 26 unique designs. Owners of these tokens can use them as their own characters in decentralized role-playing games like Pixels Online and Nifty Island. At the time of writing, the minimum price for one Nyan Cat NFT is 0.25 ETH ($920) with a royalty fee of 6.9%.
The artist mentioned that after the successful sale of Nyan Cat, some creators contacted him to learn more about Web3, blockchain, and NFT technology. He shared his insights and even joined some initiatives, including one where part of the profits went to support Ukraine in 2022. Additionally, Chris released collaborations with musician Snoop Dogg (Nyan Dogg) and DJ Steve Aoki (Nyan Aoki). (Nyan Dogg).
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