In March 2021, digital artist Beeple sold a JPEG at Christie’s auction house for $69 million. Overnight, NFTs went from a niche crypto curiosity to global news. CryptoPunks — 10,000 pixel-art characters minted for free in 2017 — started trading for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Then Bored Ape Yacht Club launched in April 2021. Ten thousand cartoon apes with randomized traits became the most exclusive club on the internet.
Celebrities bought in. Jimmy Fallon and Paris Hilton compared apes on the Tonight Show. Eminem and Snoop Dogg released videos starring their NFTs. Meanwhile, critics flooded social media with “right-click save” memes, mocking the idea of paying for something anyone could screenshot. The NFT holders invented a counter-meme: “have fun staying poor.” The JPEG wars were on.
Beneath the noise, something cultural was happening. Profile picture NFTs became status symbols, community passes, and identity markers. The Bored Ape wasn’t just art — it was membership. For the first time, a meme had become a club, and the club had become a financial asset with real resale value.
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