9GAG’s Memeland: Meet The Studio Behind The Potatoz and Captainz

On January 4, 2023, The Captainz NFT collection started its 48-hour mint duration. Priced at 1.069 ETH per mint, the collection of 9,999 pirate-themed NFTs has actually seen 6,790 ETH (more than $9 million) in trading volume in the very first 5 days of its presence. With a flooring cost presently sitting at a healthy 5.34 ETH, The Captainz is tracking on OpenSea’s Leading 10 collections list by both 24-hour and 7-day trading volume.

However The Captainz’ success didn’t come out of no place. The collection is simply the current model of among the NFT area’s most effective and profane neighborhoods: Memeland. Here’s what makes the Web3 brand name such a hit, and why you ought to anticipate even larger things from the neighborhood in 2023.

What is Memeland?

Memeland is a Web3 endeavor studio developed by Web2 essential 9GAG, the Hong Kong-based meme-centric home entertainment site that introduced in 2008. Having actually developed a following of more than 200 million throughout its different social networks platforms ever since, 9GAG was well-positioned to bridge into the Web3 area when it revealed Memeland in April 2022.

9GAG CEO Ray Chan and group began Memeland as the social platform’s Web3 company wing, which has the self-stated objective of underpromising and overdelivering, according to the studio’s main site.

” The core objective for Memeland is to produce a developer economy on Web3,” discussed Chan in a September 2022 podcast episode with The Nifty “We [are trying] to develop social networks on Web3, however in the sense that, hello, can the developers have ownership of what they produce?”

Memeland’s method to Web3 is easy: view the marketplace, observe patterns that have actually ended up being familiar to NFT neighborhoods, and “micro innovate” on top of those to use their neighborhood included worth. The technique appears to be working. Obviously, it does not harm that Memeland’s consultants and financiers consist of Animoca Brand’s research arm Animoca Digital Research Study, Moonbirds’ Kevin Rose, and VeeFriends’ Gary Vee.

To date, Memeland has actually launched 3 NFT collections, each functioning as a point of entry into the Memeland economy, which is most likely to consist of a metaverse at some time in the endeavor studio’s future.

YOU THE REAL MVP

Memeland’s inaugural NFT drop was available in June 2022 with YOU THE REAL MVP, a premium alpha-group subscription pass of 420 golden prize JPEGs that give holders access to and info about upcoming Memeland drops, personal access to the Memeland Discord MVP Lounge, IRL occasions, and partnerships. The collection represents the leading tier of the Memeland economy and was a clear signal to the NFT neighborhood that 9GAG’s Web3 arm intends to develop a job to take on a few of the most popular gamers on the scene.

Memeland launched the collection via a blind auction that set the cost of each NFT in the collection at a large5.3 ETH Within 7 days, Memeland claimed that YOU THE REAL MVP produced more than 900 ETH in profits. In spite of the bearishness, its momentum has actually grown– with the collection’s flooring cost presently standing at 38 ETH.

The Potatoz

The follow-up to the YOU THE REAL MVP release, Memeland’s Potatoz was a free-mint collection of 9,999 PFPs that dropped on July 20, 2022. The collection includes potato-themed characters and qualities motivated by memes and popular culture and functions as the base-level entry point into the Memeland economy.

The potato style originates from 9GAG’s enduring custom of satisfying readers of long meme posts on the website with an image of a potato including the words “sorry for the long post, here’s a potato” over the top of it. Early collectors might “grow” their Potatoz NFT, a procedure comparable to Moonbirds’ “nesting” procedure, to progress it from Phase 0 to Phase 5. The more a holder stakes their Potatoz, the higher the possibility they’ll have of getting advantages down the line as the Memeland economy broadens (through allowlist areas for future drops, access to IRL occasions, and Memeland’s future token, $MEME).

In time, the NFTs in the collection gradually progressed from semi-anonymous twerking potato characters, plant sprouts, donuts, and different other kinds into fully-fledged animated potato humanoids that look right out of a computer game character choice menu. With 4,189 owners, the collection has actually seen more than 20,357 ETH ($ 27 million) in sales volume considering that its release and presently has a flooring cost of 2.1 ETH.

The Captainz

Having actually gone through 2 effective collection mints in 2022, Memeland launched what it calls its “premier” collection, The Captainz, on January 4, 2023, for a mint cost of 1.069 ETH. Like The Potatoz, The Captainz is a collection of 9,999 utility-enabled NFTs that functions as a mid-level entry indicate Memeland, sitting in between YOU THE REAL MVP and The Potatoz. The energy and benefits to Captainz holders have yet to be totally exposed, and the art work stays a secret.

The Memeland site shows that Captainz holders will get advantages associated with its $MEME token and Treasure Islandz, its approaching task reported to be a Memeland’s metaverse experience. In the couple of days considering that its release, The Captainz has actually done 6,774 ETH ($ 9 million) in trading volume and has an existing flooring cost of 5.34 ETH. In the wake of the collection’s success, the Memeland Twitter account reacted in real 9GAG-inspired style.

Captainz holders likewise have a say in the Memeland DAO, assisting to make choices about the DAO treasury, future brand name collaborations, governance guidelines, and more.

The future of Memeland

Memeland has actually shown a strong understanding of the NFT and crypto markets, producing and providing to its neighborhood throughout among the most affordable points the market has actually yet seen. Comparable to Reddit’s NFT wizardry, 9GAG has actually revealed Web2 social networks platforms that it’s possible to smartly browse the Web3 area, even if they’re foreign to it.

Memeland has actually consistently highlighted that its coming $MEME token will be various than the typical NFT token that “typical individuals do not care about.” How their group presents that token in the future will substantially impact the community, possibly driving it to even higher success. Also, its still mystical Treasure Islandz task has the Memeland and higher NFT neighborhood waiting with bated breath.

Beyond this, the Memeland site keeps in mind that it has numerous other tasks in the works, consisting of a “Tripadvisor for your Web3 journey,” a tongue-in-cheek “Web3 OnlyFans,” a website for crypto staking, and a platform for family pet fans. These seem like a high order, however provided what the Memeland group has actually carried out in the last 7 months, it’s not unreasonable to anticipate them to provide in incredible style.