Pepe The Frog Creator Kicks NFT Frog Collection Worth $4M From Marketplace
Photo ID 87896065 © Riza Arif Pratama | Dreamstime.com
Ever since its rise (and maintained status) as a meme in 2009, Pepe the Frog has gone through various internet-culture upheavals, including its relatively harmless beginnings being ruthlessly appropriated into a far-right hate symbol.
Perhaps it comes as no wonder, then, that its creator, Matt Furie, is treating his frog with ultra-high sensitivity.
The latest kerfuffle that Pepe finds itself in is a dispute between Furie and a 7,000-strong collection of NFT frogs being sold on NFT marketplace OpenSea.
Listed as “officially verified” on August 9, the Sad Frogs District project sold 883 NFTs in its first week alone, earning its creators around US$664,000. In total, its transactions were worth US$4 million.
We are so very happy to announce to you all that we are Officially Verified on OpenSeahttps://t.co/OV97VnEksy
— Sad Frogs District (@SadFrogsD) August 12, 2021
Come check us out. And don't forget to FROG UP!
These frogs bear likeness to Pepe in their features and style of art. Apart from the signature green shade, the similarities are pretty easy to see even when they’ve been adorned with their various accessories.
Exciting day and many more to come!
— Sad Frogs District (@SadFrogsD) August 13, 2021
Alien frog just sold for 7.96 ETH
~ $26,100
FROG NATION!#SadFrogsDistrict #NFT #NFTCommunity pic.twitter.com/5uA8tj2gft
Furie had reached out to the project’s developers in an email, according to a report by VICE. He’d also requested to be added to the project’s Discord server, but was rejected. His username was later uncovered in a ban log, although no reason was given for the ban.
“The Frogs are inspired by collective artworks of internet artists and cyberpunk aesthetics,” the now-defunct project page on OpenSea states. “The project is not associated with Matt Furie.”
In a last attempt to salvage his frog, Furie sent a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) takedown request to OpenSea, which honored this. This bore ill effects on those who had invested a sum of money into one of the Frogs, who were costly to come by.
Dude, you don't know the impact this has on people's life's. The collection was verified?! I lost 4K $, and I bet a lot of other people lost a lot more. I'm officially out of the NFT game now. This is really horrible, don't know how I'm gonna deal with this
— Crypto Gambling Addict 💰 (@cgamblingaddict) August 16, 2021
“I think these memes are all derived from actual frogs and nobody owns the right to solely meme an entire natural species,” a moderator by the name of Kronos tells Motherboard.
One of Furie’s lawyers, Louis Tompros, notes that the Sad Frogs developers have filed a counter-claim to try and get their frogs back, but bizarrely, it’s registered under Vladimir Vladimirovich—the first and middle names of Vladimir Putin. Under this “anonymity,” it’s hard to proceed.
It has also been reported that the developers are working on reinstating their frogs, but removing some of the features to hopefully make them look less like Pepe’s funkily-dressed relatives.
Rightfully and accurately so, Tompros also describes this entire sequence of “cartoon frog money” as “a strange, strange road.”
[via Gizmodo, photo ID 87896065 Riza Arif Pratama | Dreamstime.com]
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