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That Pakistani meme which shook the world.
A retrospect of how one humorous meme got sold for a hefty price, how NFTs work, what artists can expect in Web 3.0?
On August of 1st, Muhammad Asif Raza went live on Facebook, as he sat with both new best friend Salman Ahmad Naqsh and ex-friend Mudassir Ismail Ahmad, huddled side by side on a couch as the meme they created back in 2015 got auctioned and sold for 20 ETH. Converting the amount into dollars makes it equivalent to $49,000 or PKR 7,898,800. Gratitude was in the air as the three actual friends expressed their love to supporters of the meme watching the live stream.
The “friendship ended with Mudassir” meme is embedded as part of modern Pakistani internet culture and for all the unusual reasons. The quirkiness of the message typed in WordArt and green colored cross on the friend, a symbol marking an end of a friendship. A perfectly imperfect MS-Paint job generated seismic-level buzz that broke the internet.
The meme went viral first in the global south and as it reached western shores, it became a worldwide sensation. Considering the appeal of memes within Gen-Z and…