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After film stars like Amitabh Bachchan and sports celebrities like Yuvraj Singh launched their digital collectibles,making their way into thetrendingnon-fungible token (NFT) market are memes that will be available to buyers from January 19.

Memes are a type of contentin the form ofa picture, video or a phrase that are often humorous, which a lot of people send to each other on social media.

It is the virality of memes that madeKyle Fernandeslaunch NFT marketplace Meme Club NFT. Fernandes is a computer science engineer whoin 2019along with his friendTaaran Chanana started MemeChat, a platform that allows users to create memes.

NFT as a concept is like it was built for memes.We can link the author of that piece of content and then empower the creator economy and they can createwealth via NFTs, Fernandes, Founder and CEO, MemeChat told Moneycontrol.

So whattype of memes will be offered as digital assets and for how much?

Fernandes gave some examples that will be offered as digital assets including Friday meme NFT, Kamlesh meme NFT and Cat meme NFT. These memeshave been shared around10,000-25,000 times on social media.

We have tied up with creators to offer 50 meme NFTs in the first week of launch. Eventually we want to create a marketplace where all creators are creating content. Creators can create content on MemeChat and then theNFTs will be linked on Meme Club, Fernandes said.

MemeChat has hosted over 20 million memes since its launch.

He added that along with viral memes as NFTs, Meme Club will also let buyersbe a part of the community that decides which memeMemeChat will make viral.

MemeChat, which saw its user basegrow from 1.3 million in March last year to 4 million now, is behind many viral clips includingthe rap called Rasode Mein Kaun Tha by YouTuberYashraj Mukhate, which became a memefest.Fernandes added that MemeChats Instagram pages have a following of over 300 million.

This is why he thinks that memes as NFTs will find strongtraction with buyers. While Meme Club will be offeringNFTs in theprice range of Rs 1,000 to Rs 5,000 to start with, Fernandes said that astheyget a better understanding of what people want,the platformwill be launching more NFTs andexpects a rapid increase inprices.

Built by a team of five people including Fernandes, Meme Club was madeat a cost of Rs2-3 lakhandRs 3-4 lakh was invested to roll out perks like merchandise for buyers.

Asked if the launch of an NFT marketplace would help MemeChat attract a larger audience, Fernandes said the platforms user base is growing at a rapid pace with 20,000-25,000 downloads a day. What the NFT marketplace will do for MemeChat is create a strong business model for us, he said.

Fernandes could be right because globally meme NFTs have made millions.

The NFT of the Doge meme with an image ofa Shiba Inu dog, one of the most popular memes, was sold for $3.8 million.Last year, the NFT of the viral video calledCharlie Bit My Finger sold for around $730,644.

Globally, experts say that meme NFTspicked up pace since last year but its origin can be traced back to 2018 whenthe NFT meme known as Homer Pepe,which looks like a blend ofPepe the Frog and Homer Simpson from The Simpsons, an American animated sitcom, was bought for $39,000 and was sold last year for around$312,000.

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Memes make their way in Indias NFT space, soon you can buy viral images and videos - Moneycontrol.com