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Remastered Digital Copy Of Iconic Nyan Cat Meme Sells For Nearly $600,000

Remastered Digital Copy Of Iconic Nyan Cat Meme Sells For Nearly $600,000

The creator of Nyan Cat celebrated the 10-year anniversary​ of the GIF by remastering the original and holding a 24-hour auction.

Jessica Lynch

Jessica Lynch

A one-of-a-kind crypto art rendition of the iconic flying rainbow Pop Tart cat meme, Nyan Cat, has sold for a whopping $590,000.

Creator of the meme, Chris Torres, celebrated the 10-year anniversary of the GIF by remastering the original and holding a 24-hour auction on crypto art platform Foundation.

The description on the item for auction read: "Nyan Cat is the name of an animation uploaded on April 2, 2011, and became a viral internet sensation.

"The design of Nyan Cat was inspired by my cat Marty, who crossed the Rainbow Bridge but lives on in spirit.

"I am the original artist behind the iconic GIF and have remastered the image for its 10 year anniversary."

Bids for the Nyan Cat started at about $1,544.38, or 3 Ether (ETH), the cryptocurrency used by the platform, and closed at 300 ETH, which was $590,000 at the time of the sale.

The buyer of the Nyan Cat original was anonymous and appeared only as 'oxy7eb2...3f6b' on Foundation's site.

Torres said he was 'surprised' over the hefty value of the digital piece.

"I'm very surprised with the success, but I think I'm most glad knowing that I've basically opened the door to a whole new meme economy in the crypto world," Torres told Nasdaq.

According to the publication, the sale was Torres' first experiment with nonfungible tokens (NFTs), a type of digital asset that has made its way into the crypto scene lately.

"I am still relatively new to crypto in general, but I see its full potential," he said. "I feel like that's what it really needed, and it's going to be great seeing how it plays out."

The selling of such works has been a game-changer for meme creators, who previously struggled with monetising their creations.

The Nyan Cat meme first blessed our screens on YouTube ten years ago and quickly became a cult internet sensation.

The bizarre video shows a low-quality animated cartoon cat that is also part Pop-Tart that glides through space with leaving a rainbow trail set to Japanese music. It currently boasts over 185 million views on YouTube.

Featured Image Credit: Chris Torres

Topics: Internet, News, Weird