Rare Pepes: The First Crypto Collectibles (2016)

In late 2016, a group of Pepe traders moved their hobby onto the blockchain. Using the Counterparty protocol — a layer built on top of Bitcoin that allowed for token issuance — they began minting “Rare Pepe” cards as digital collectibles. Each card was a unique image of Pepe in a specific scene, with a fixed supply, registered permanently on Bitcoin’s blockchain.

The Rare Pepe Wallet launched in 2016 and became the first true marketplace for digital art collectibles. Cards traded for hundreds, then thousands of dollars. A “Homer Pepe” eventually sold for $39,000. This was years before the term “NFT” was popularized, years before CryptoPunks dominated headlines. Rare Pepes were the original blockchain art collectibles. The current multi-billion-dollar NFT industry owes its existence to a community of frog meme traders on Bitcoin.