Memes make their way in India’s NFT space, soon you can buy viral images and videos

So what type of memes will be offered as digital assets and for how much?

Fernandes gave some examples that will be offered as digital assets including Friday meme NFT, Kamlesh meme NFT and Cat meme NFT. These memes have been shared around 10,000-25,000 times on social media.

“We have tied up with creators to offer 50 meme NFTs in the first week of launch. Eventually we want to create a marketplace where all creators are creating content. Creators can create content on MemeChat and then the NFTs will be linked on Meme Club,” Fernandes said.

MemeChat has hosted over 20 million memes since its launch.

He added that along with viral memes as NFTs, Meme Club will also let buyers be a part of the community that decides which meme MemeChat will make viral.

MemeChat, which saw its user base grow from 1.3 million in March last year to 4 million now, is behind many viral clips including the rap called Rasode Mein Kaun Tha by YouTuber Yashraj Mukhate, which became a memefest. Fernandes added that MemeChat’s Instagram pages have a following of over 300 million.

This is why he thinks that memes as NFTs will find strong traction with buyers. While Meme Club will be offering NFTs in the price range of Rs 1,000 to Rs 5,000 to start with, Fernandes said that as they get a better understanding of what people want, the platform will be launching more NFTs and expects a rapid increase in prices.

Built by a team of five people including Fernandes, Meme Club was made at a cost of Rs 2-3 lakh and Rs 3-4 lakh was invested to roll out perks like merchandise for buyers.

Asked if the launch of an NFT marketplace would help MemeChat attract a larger audience, Fernandes said the platform’s user base is growing at a rapid pace with 20,000-25,000 downloads a day. “What the NFT marketplace will do for MemeChat is create a strong business model for us,” he said.

Fernandes could be right because globally meme NFTs have made millions.

The NFT of the Doge meme with an image of a Shiba Inu dog, one of the most popular memes, was sold for $3.8 million. Last year, the NFT of the viral video called Charlie Bit My Finger sold for around $730,644.

Globally, experts say that meme NFTs picked up pace since last year but its origin can be traced back to 2018 when the NFT meme known as Homer Pepe, which looks like a blend of Pepe the Frog and Homer Simpson from The Simpsons, an American animated sitcom, was bought for $39,000 and was sold last year for around $312,000.

Fernandes expects a similar kind of gold rush for meme NFTs in India.