The Rare Pepe NFTs Launch In 2016
- NFT
- Bitcoin
- Culture
- NFTs
Years before the term 'NFT' existed, crypto enthusiasts began minting Pepe the Frog artwork as provably scarce digital assets on Bitcoin's Counterparty protocol. The first Rare Pepe, later known as the 'Nakamoto Card,' was minted in block 428,919 by an artist called 'Mike.' A group called the 'Rare Pepe Scientists' curated submissions across 36 series of cards. In January 2018, a Homer Simpson/Pepe mashup called 'Homer Pepe' sold at live auction for $39,000, the first major digital art auction. That same card resold in 2021 for $320,000. In October 2021, PEPENOPOULOS sold at Sotheby's for $3.6 million, cementing Rare Pepes as historically significant proto-NFTs.