$3.4m Pepe Genesis NFT sale marks the start of an NFT “FROGtober”

“FROGtober” started early for the NFT community as the first artwork to feature the now-famous “Pepe the Frog” was sold in NFT form yesterday for an incredible 1,000 ETH ($3.4M) by NFT fund StarryNightCapital.

The $3.4m purchase was revealed by well-known NFT collection VincentVanDough, who joined forces with Three Arrows Capital to create StarryNightCapital and begin to assemble “the world’s finest collection of NFTs”.

The seller – Twitter user punk4156 – put the item up for sale yesterday and informed his followers that “the rarest Pepe is for sale“. This sparked widespread speculation in the NFT community, prompting many users to say the artwork will get market bought instantly and that 1,000 ETH was a steal.

Another prominent NFT collection – ‘Farokh.eth’ – also referred to the artwork as a “cultural artifact” and that it would have no trouble selling at the 1,000 ETH price point.

The 2006 artwork – titled “1pantsdownpee.jpg” – is the first authorised Pepe the Frog NFT by creator Matt Furie. The artwork originates from Matt Furie’s Boys Club comic series, which marked the first appearance of “Pepe the Frog”.

Since then, Pepe has become a globally recognised meme and has spawned an extraordinary collection of Pepe memes that have become fan favourites with social media communities.

The Pepe meme has also featured heavily in other NFTs including the RAREPEPE collection – which has seen a recent surge in interest following its cult status in internet history

To coincide with the sale, creator Matt Furie, NFT collection Pegz and NFT marketplace Chain/Saw NFT revealed the Thursday auction of one “🐸 FEELSGOODMAN 🐸” Rare Pepe card.

Chain/Saw called the card “A piece of blockchain history” and said the card signifies a “peace treaty of sorts between Bitcoin and Ethereum”.

From the original 500 cards that were issued, 400 were burnt and the remaining 100 remain in the custody of @PegzDAO – a collaborative effort between Matt Furie and the Pegz owner community that “strives to be a beacon of positivity ” and guide the ‘Pepeverse’ in a direction that “aligns” with Furie’s vision.

Furie has previously filed DMCA and copyright notices against NFT projects like SadFrogsDistrict that have used the Pepe image without his permission in the past.