Chris Torres, the creator of the iconic internet meme Nyan Cat, is apprehensive about getting involved in the world of meme coins, despite issuing a number of NFT collections in the past.
The artist told Decrypt it’s because he views meme coins as the “wild west.”
Still, Torres has claimed more than $700,000 in fees from the Bags token launchpad. It allows anyone to launch a token on the platform and assign royalties to a user on X. The platform has housed countless tokens sending royalties to Torres, most notably a Nyan Cat token that touched a $12 million market cap on Thursday.
“I am grateful for what is happening with that platform. I’ve never had this kind of support before, and the funds will help my family a lot,” Torres told Decrypt. “I’m still respectfully cautious about things though, ultimately I don’t know who launched what, who sniped supply, or who to trust. It’s definitely still the wild west out here.”
The Puerto Rican-born artist disclosed that he has redeemed almost 4,000 SOL, which is currently worth just over $706,000, according to CoinGecko.
But Torres was clear that he does not think of accepting the funds as granting his endorsement to any token or platform—nor is he comfortable with creating an official token.
“Right now, I’m focused on the art I’ve been making for over 15 years,” Torres explained. “I know the coin space can be profitable and fun, but it’s also hectic, and there is nothing worse than having to pick up the pieces if one person decides to mess with a coin. I’m not totally opposed to the idea, but I have been getting more fulfillment from the art side of things.”
Nyan Cat is an 8-bit animation of a cat with a Pop-Tart body flying through space, leaving a rainbow trail behind it.
The meme, based on his own Russian Blue cat named Marty, was originally posted to a comic site by Torres in 2011. It was later uploaded to YouTube with a Japanese song called Nyanyanyanyanyanyanya, which became synonymous with the meme.
Since then, Torres has been riding the wave of being an artist and has mingled with several classic meme creators.
In 2021, he sold a one-of-one NFT of the iconic GIF for 300 ETH, or $690,000 at the time.
On the back of this, Torres claims to have tapped into his OG meme network to help them also sell NFTs. This list included the likes of Keyboard Cat, Bad Luck Brian, Scumbag Steve, and more—all selling for at least five figures.
Torres also helped out the creator of Trollface, known as Carlos Ramirez, sell his classic meme as an NFT for 42 ETH, or approximately $69,000 at the time.