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 various NFT collections prior to now.

The artist instructed 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 person 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 occurring with that platform. I’ve by no means had this sort of help earlier than, and the funds will assist my household lots,” Torres instructed Decrypt. “I am nonetheless respectfully cautious about issues although, finally I do not know who launched what, who sniped provide, or who to belief.  It is undoubtedly nonetheless the wild west out right here.”

The Puerto Rican-born artist disclosed that he has redeemed virtually 4,000 SOL, which is at the moment 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 centered on the artwork I have been making for over 15 years,” Torres defined. “I do know the coin area may be worthwhile and enjoyable, nevertheless it’s additionally hectic, and there’s nothing worse than having to choose up the items if one particular person decides to mess with a coin. I am not completely against the concept, however I’ve been getting extra success from the artwork facet 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 by way of area, 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 website by Torres in 2011. It was later uploaded to YouTube with a Japanese tune 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 basic meme creators.

In 2021, he bought 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 record included the likes of Keyboard Cat, Dangerous Luck Brian, Scumbag Steve, and extra—all promoting for a minimum of 5 figures.

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

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 enable 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 because of merchants’ thirst for income.

That stated, 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” because of how time-consuming and aggravating it may be.

“As an artist, it is necessary to discover a steadiness between defending your IP and letting one thing exist as a meme,” Torres stated. “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 brought on the social media website to quickly go offline because of the variety of folks making an attempt to purchase the NFTs.

“Most individuals assume I’m not even part of crypto or hate it,” he stated. “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 new factor proper now, he nonetheless believes that NFTs are a extra pure match for artwork.

“Cash are undoubtedly more durable to get into than artwork for a brand new artist,” he instructed Decrypt. “I believe with [NFT] artwork, folks will deal with the work itself, the way it makes them really feel, and every part 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 stated, [meme] cash may be artwork,” Torres added. “It is all in regards to the execution.”