Nyan Cat Creator Calls Meme Coins ‘Wild West’, Claims $700K in Fees—But Denies Endorsement

Chris Torres, the creator of the enduring web meme Nyan Cat, is apprehensive about getting concerned on the planet of meme cash, regardless of issuing a lot of NFT collections prior to now.

The artist advised Decrypt it’s as a result of he views meme cash because the “wild west.”

Nonetheless, Torres has claimed greater than $700,000 in charges from the Baggage token launchpad. It permits anybody to launch a token on the platform and assign royalties to a consumer on X. The platform has housed numerous tokens sending royalties to Torres, most notably a Nyan Cat token that touched a $12 million market cap on Thursday.

“I’m grateful for what is going on with that platform. I’ve by no means had this type of help earlier than, and the funds will assist my household loads,” Torres advised Decrypt. “I am nonetheless respectfully cautious about issues although, in the end I do not know who launched what, who sniped provide, or who to belief.  It is positively nonetheless the wild west out right here.”

The Puerto Rican-born artist disclosed that he has redeemed nearly 4,000 SOL, which is at present price simply over $706,000, in accordance with CoinGecko.

However Torres was clear that he doesn’t consider accepting the funds as granting his endorsement to any token or platform—neither is he comfy with creating an official token.

“Proper now, I am targeted on the artwork I have been making for over 15 years,” Torres defined. “I do know the coin house could be worthwhile and enjoyable, nevertheless it’s additionally hectic, and there’s nothing worse than having to select up the items if one individual decides to mess with a coin. I am not completely against the concept, however I’ve been getting extra success from the artwork aspect of issues.”

How did Nyan Cat get right here?

Nyan Cat is an 8-bit animation of a cat with a Pop-Tart physique flying via house, leaving a rainbow path behind it.

The meme, primarily based on his personal Russian Blue cat named Marty, was initially posted to a comic book web site by Torres in 2011. It was later uploaded to YouTube with a Japanese track referred to as Nyanyanyanyanyanyanya, which grew to become synonymous with the meme.

Since then, Torres has been driving the wave of being an artist and has mingled with a number of traditional meme creators.

In 2021, he offered a one-of-one NFT of the enduring GIF for 300 ETH, or $690,000 on the time.

On the again of this, Torres claims to have tapped into his OG meme community to assist them additionally promote NFTs. This checklist included the likes of Keyboard Cat, Dangerous Luck Brian, Scumbag Steve, and extra—all promoting for no less than 5 figures.

Torres additionally helped out the creator of Trollface, often called Carlos Ramirez, promote his traditional meme as an NFT for 42 ETH, or roughly $69,000 on the time.

Just lately, the Trollface artist has equally discovered himself amid meme coin mania as a Troll token touched a $200 million market cap on Wednesday.

Nonetheless, the Troll token was created on Pump.enjoyable, which doesn’t simply permit for royalties to be shared with artists, as is the case with Baggage. Regardless of that, a slew of Baggage tokens have additionally been launched in honor of Ramirez. However he has refused to endorse a token, claiming that crypto “diminishes” artwork as a consequence of merchants’ thirst for income.

That mentioned, the Trollface artist dominated out urgent authorized motion in opposition to the tokens. Nyan Cat creator Torres took an identical stance, claiming that authorized motion is just price an artist’s time in a “severe case” as a consequence of how time-consuming and annoying it may be.

“As an artist, it is vital to discover a stability between defending your IP and letting one thing exist as a meme,” Torres mentioned. “If the artwork is used respectfully, then there’s by no means been an issue.”

Through the years, Torres has collaborated with a number of initiatives to create NFT collections. This features a 2023 Reddit Nyan Cat assortment, which he says precipitated the social media web site to briefly go offline as a result of variety of individuals trying to purchase the NFTs.

“Most individuals assume I’m not even part of crypto or hate it,” he mentioned. “However I’ve been at it for nearly 5 years and it’s been life-changing for me personally in a great way.”

Torres added that regardless of meme cash being the recent factor proper now, he nonetheless believes that NFTs are a extra pure match for artwork.

“Cash are positively tougher to get into than artwork for a brand new artist,” he advised Decrypt. “I feel with [NFT] artwork, individuals will give attention to the work itself, the way it makes them really feel, and every thing lives in a neat assortment that may be seen as a gallery of works. With cash, the second you launch you are anticipated to maintain that chart going up.”

“That being mentioned, [meme] cash could be artwork,” Torres added. “It is all concerning the execution.”