Pakistan’s first NFT set for auction on World Friendship Day

Alter, a Lahore and London-based startup, is set to auction Pakistan’s first non-fungible token (NFT) on July 30. 

“We are about to mint and auction a 1/1 NFT of the meme ‘Friendship Ended with Mudasir’ for World Friendship Day (30th July),” it said in a statement, referring to a famous Pakistani meme, probably the first one that went viral on the internet a few years ago.

The meme was posted by Muhammad Asif Ali Rana. He posted a photo with his friend on his Facebook account. Both of them were shaking hands. The image also had a bold and colourful text that read, “Friendship ended with Mudasir: Now Salman is my best friend.”

The original post, which showed Mudasir’s crossed images at the bottom, received 10,000 shares.

“Thematically, it would be a great time to market and launch this meme, due to its impactful relevance,” it added.

NFTs are digital codes linked to blockchain technology. It is stored on a decentralised public ledger that certifies any digital file to be unique. They are digital identifiers that can’t be copied.

Think of an NFT as fingerprints that are unique. They have become an increasingly popular tool because of their use cases. For example, they have created an entirely new digital art industry worth more than $1b by solving the biggest problem artists faced: copying.

In March, artist Mike Winkelmann, who goes by Beeple, sold the world’s first virtual NFT artwork for $69m at Christie’s, a famous auction. Earlier this week, Polish influencer Marta Rentel sold her emotions through NFT (a digital token) for $250,000.

Alter, the new startup, says it is bridging the gap that content creators from emerging economies face when trying to connect with the latest trends and disruptive technologies. The current gap, it says, leads to creators missing multiple opportunities via the western market.

“We are providing seamless onboarding and marketing solutions for a range of diverse creators, looking to auction their NFTs,” it said.