The Memes by 6529: A Digital Revolution for a Better Society

Memes are ideas that spread from brain to brain and have elements of culture or system behavior. Arguably, the first meme was created in the early 1920s, and published by the University of Iowa in a magazine called “The Judge”.

Since then, memes have become a common medium for communicating thoughts and ideas around culturally significant events and people on a mass scale using the internet. From the adored “Grumpy Cat”, to the classic “Distracted Boyfriend”, memes seem to have the ability to live on for years.

And now with the next iteration of the internet—Web3—memes can literally live forever on the blockchain as NFTs. And that’s exactly what “The Memes by 6529” has already accomplished.

But, the goal for this meme collection is much more significant than you might think. In fact, it could change the world.

The Memes by 6529 is an NFT collection of memes aimed to spread the message of the fight for an open metaverse (OM). The collection is ERC-1155 tokens minted on a standalone Manifold contract and the art is saved on Arweave (an interplanetary file system).

Punk6529 created the collection along with the help of a multi-disciplinary artist and designer, known as 6529er.

That said, the bulk of the collection’s contributions will continue to be collaborations with other prominent artists, photographers, and 3D designers.

Considering the goal of the collection is to spread awareness of a self-sovereign, decentralized, metaverse community, the edition sizes will remain fairly large and inexpensive so many people can own a piece from the collection, hence spreading awareness of OM.

Additionally, 10% of each edition is reserved to archive, display, donate, or potentially sell in the future.

Punk6529 is an influential member of the crypto community and a big-time NFT collector who uses a CryptoPunk NFT as his digital identity. With over 430k followers on Twitter and growing, 6529 continues to be one of the major voices in the Web3 space and a true thought leader.

But, before the Punk6529 persona existed, the person behind this culturally significant JPEG had been in the crypto game since 2013.

As a result, 6529 made several smart moves in the Web3 space, leading to the anon’s hefty collection of NFTs worth over an estimated $20 million. Despite all the success, the pseudonymous influencer noticed a problem.

That problem is that there is a very limited window of opportunity to create an open metaverse.

So, what’s so significant about an open metaverse?

6529 believes an open metaverse will enable society to remain sovereign beings as opposed to a society controlled by a few select people who own all of our data.

In July 2021, this realization led to the creation of the Punk6529 brand and the beginning of an open metaverse.

OM is a decentralized open metaverse that bridges virtual and physical spaces that society will use in their day-to-day lives. Unlike other mainstream metaverses being developed, such as Meta, OM aims to be decentralized and community-driven.

According to 6529.io, the key design parameters on which OM is being built are as follows:

• It’s decentralized and community-driven.
• It’s composable and interoperable.
• The quality and experience are enjoyable to people who use it daily.
• It becomes large enough to compete with centralized Web 2 metaverses.

The first area of virtual land created in OM is the Museum District. The 6529 Museum District was created to showcase 6529’s collection of over 2,000 significant NFTs and is likely the most valuable set of decentralized JPEGs to be displayed in one space.

However, flexing expensive JPEGs is only a small part of 6529’s vision for OM. The much larger vision, according to 6529, looks like this:

• Thousands of self-governing districts.
• Dozens of self-governing cities.
• Different missions, cultures, and priorities.
• Everything is linked within a vast virtual landscape.
• Virtual is bridged to the physical world.
• A globally distributed, decentralized infrastructure.

Ultimately, the aim of OM and The Memes by 6529 collection is to give power to the people. Of course, this is no small feat. 

Even though The Memes by 6529 and OM are still in their infancy, they’ve already had an impact on the current state of the NFT space. Not only have the NFTs from the collection sold out, but numerous artists have been given the opportunity to submit their work for a chance to contribute to the collection. 

Aside from the initial success of The Memes collection, it has also inspired other artists and projects to create their own memes.

Season 1

Season 1 memes are based on 8 different messages.

Meme 1: Seize the Memes Of Production

Meme 1 features the most valuable memes from the collection, with the first three cards (6529 Seizing, SeizeJPGs, and Uncle Seize) said to be the genesis cards of the collection, all of which are created by 6529er.

“I view these as the three genesis cards for The Memes, like Squiggle/Genesis/Construction token are first for ArtBlocks, like Nakamoto is first for Pepe” - 6529

Cards/artists:

Card 1: 6529 Seizing 

Artist: 6529er | Quantity: 1,000

Card 2: SeizeJPGs 

Artist: 6529er | Quantity: 1,000

Card 3: Uncle Seize 

Artist: 6529er | Quantity: 1,000

Card 4: DALL-E's Revenge 

Artist: ACK | Quantity: 420

Card 5: Seize the Bees of Production 

Artist: 6529 & 6529er | Quantity: 469

Card 6: Seize the Carpoolers 

Artist: Alejandro Cartagene | Quantity: 569

Card 6: MEowMEow Alley 

Artist:  Kristy Glas | Quantity: 969

Card 7: EXIT STRATEGY 

Artist: XCOPY | Quantity: 420

Meme 2: WAGMI

We all gonna make it! This is the message for Meme 2, and all four cards represent it well and with their own twist.

Cards/artists:

Card 1: rekt6529 

Artist: OSF | Quantity: 569

Card 2: Play the Game 

Artist: Simone Monte | Quantity: 969

Card 3: WAGMI? 

Artist: Kaejunni | Quantity: 469

Card 4: Vibe Check

Artist: Drift | Quantity: 769

Meme 3: Don’t Let The Institutions Steal Your JPEGs

Before, anyone could steal your JPEGs. Now with NFTs, stealing JPEGs has become much harder. We the people reserve the right to own our JPEGs and do with them as we please. Meme 3 enforces this right worldwide.

Cards/artists:

Card 1: ​​The Institutions Are Coming 

Artist: 6529er | Quantity: 510

Card 2: JPEGs Are Infinite

Artist: SeerLight | Quantity: 696

Meme 4: GM

There’s only one way to start the day on NFT Twitter, and that’s with a big “GM”. This two-letter acronym has become a staple in the NFT space, and Meme 4 showcases how each artist expresses GM. It includes ten cards, all created by different artists.

Cards/artists:

Card 1: First GM 

Artist: 6529 | Quantity: 6,529

Card 2: A Meditation on GM 

Artist: Ayla El-Moussa | Quantity: 469

Card 3: Blue GM 

Artist: Priyanka Patel | Quantity: 399

Card 4: GMgm 

Artist: Haru Komoda | Quantity: 569

Card 5: GM to DEATH 

Artist: ALIENQUEEN | Quantity: 769

Card 6: Vivienne Tam x 6529 

Artist: Vivienne Tam | Quantity: 888

Card 7: GM Indonesia 

Artist: Jord Hammond | Quantity: 369

Card 8: Morning’s Eve

Artist: Dolce Paganne | Quantity: 669

Card 9: Cereal GMer

Artist: Daria Klepikova | Quantity: 818

Card 10: gmgn

Artist: Rik Oostenbroek | Quantity: 611

Meme 5: Use A Hardware Wallet

Wallet security has continued to be a struggle in the NFT space. Meme 5 focuses on this struggle with each artist highlighting the importance of using a hardware wallet in their own, artistic way.

Cards/artists:

Card 1: Hardware Wallet and Mug
Artist: Helena Sarin | Quantity: 669

Card 2: !UGH

Artist: JakNFT | Quantity: 420

Card 3: You Can't Touch This

Artist: Natalie Shau | Quantity: 399

Card 4: Feeling Lucky?

Artist: 6529er | Quantity: 420

Card 5: FTXPepe

Artist: 6529er & 6529 | Quantity: 1,500

Card 6: Trashor

Artist: ROBNESS | Quantity: 999

Meme 6: Open Metaverse / OM

Considering the aim of these memes is to bring awareness to the open metaverse, it only makes sense to include OM in the first season. With a total of 11 cards and unique artists, Meme 6 contains the most cards of the first season.

Cards/artists:

Card 1: CyberMetaverse
Artist: Cyber Humanoid | Quantity: 455

Card 2: OMSeized

Artist: Rakesh Pulapa | Quantity: 399

Card 3: OMbuidling

Artist: Tony Sellen | Quantity: 569

Card 4: Awakening OM

Artist: Apocalypse Art | Quantity: 669

Card 5: OM Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind

Artist: Deconstruct | Quantity: 969

Card 6: Open Roads, Open Metaverse

Artist: Matt Scobel | Quantity: 555

Card 7: Fight for the Open Metaverse

Artist: NeonGlitch | Quantity: 569

Card 8: 100 Trillion Stars, 100 Million People

Artist: TyLekki | Quantity: 769

Card 9: Human-Intelligence Generated OM

Artist: HugoFaz | Quantity: 569

Card 10: Sphere of Influence

Artist: wetpotatobrain | Quantity: 469

Card 11: Beyond the Horizon

Artist: Tommy Wilson | Quantity: 818

Meme 7: Freedom To Transact

Plain and simple, crypto has given society the freedom to transact without intermediaries. And that’s the exact message Meme 7 is all about—freedom. It’s also the most limited meme with a total of 720 cards.

Cards/artists:

Card 1: NakamotoFreedom
Artist: 6529er | Quantity: 300

Card 2: Sgt. Pepe

Artist: Arsonic | Quantity: 420

Meme 8: Freestyle

The last meme from season 1 is a freestyle. With no particular subject in mind, the 4 cards are quite different from each other.

Card 1: Aeroglyph6529

Artist: Reuben Wu | Quantity: 818

Card 2: NFT Adoption Pathway 2030

Artist: 6529 | Quantity: 420

Card 3: Authentic Summer

Artist: 6529er | Quantity: 969

Card 4: Meet Summer Glasses

Artist: NeonGlitch86 & 6529er | Quantity: 420

Season 2 is ongoing, so not all cards have been revealed yet. But, from what has been revealed, it looks like this season won’t disappoint!

It's got 3 new memes: Survive, Not Your Keys, Not Your Coins, and Digital Rights Characters. Plus, it’s got completely new artists not featured in Season 1 (with the exception of 6529er of course).

Overall, The Memes has done over 15,000 ETH in total sales volume and has more than 7,000 unique holders since launching on June 9, 2022.

No doubt, these memes will live on forever. But, will they change the world? Considering the success that The Memes by 6529 has seen, it’s a real possibility.