Alter, a Lahore and London-based startup, is set to auction a non-fungible token (NFT) meme on October 31. The auction date and the theme of the digital artwork both coincide with Halloween.

‘When your Face Analysis Model is too accurate’ would be the second Pakistani meme to be auctioned as NFT.

The meme created by Arsalan Siddiqui, a 28 years old freelancer from Karachi, was first posted on his personal Facebook account.

Published on December 9, 2020, with the caption ‘When your Face Analysis Model is too accurate’ the meme gained widespread popularity and accumulated more than 131,000 shares and 74000 reactions.

Arsalan Siddiqui told SAMAA Digital that he accidentally created the meme. “I was working on a face analysis project which had very narrow deadline. Most of my time was consumed by the part where I had to create face analysis model. So, I made a joke out of it by making it look that a ghost with angry mood was detected by it,” he said.

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

I made … it look that a ghost with angry mood was detected

Arsalan Siddiqui

You can think of an NFT as a set of 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 have faced: copying.

As a freelancer working in the IT industry, Arsalan knew about NFTs. He heard about Pakistan’s first NFT meme auction ‘Friendship Ended with Mudasir’ which took place on July 30 on International Friendship Day. It was auctioned for $51,000.

Arsalan followed the meme and found out that the one he had created had more shares and reach.

He said, “When I saw ‘Friendship ended with Mudassir’ being auctioned as NFT, I researched about it and contacted people who could help me auction my meme. I started adding collectors on Instagram and Facebook so they notice my meme.”

The auction will begin at 4am Pakistan Standard Time (7pm ET on October 30) and is promoted as featured artwork on one of the biggest NFT platform Foundation.app.

The starting bid price is set at 0.555 ETH, which is worth more than PKR 368,000.

 
 
 

According to Arsalan, more artists can get their memes and arts NFT auctioned if they follow certain practices.

“It is important that a meme should have worldwide exposure because the collectors are usually from UK and US,’ he said.



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