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One of the first depictions of the Mickey Mouse character has finally entered the public domain, and it is now immortalized in a non-fungible token collection. A limited edition of 2,000 NFTs featuring the famous mouse in one of its first animated shorts, “Steamboat Willie,” was minted during New Year’s Eve to commemorate the occasion.
The cryptocurrency community has made Disney’s Mickey Mouse one of the pop culture characters that already have their non-fungible tokens (NFT) collections. One of the first depictions of Mickey Mouse, as the character was seen in a 1928 animated short titled “Steamboat Willie,” is now part of an Ethereum NFT collection launched by Truth cofounder Alexander Taub.
The NFT collection was opened for mint on January 1st, when “Steamboat Willie” entered the public domain, liberating content creators to use this version of the character in their derivatives without linking its usage to Disney or paying rights for this. However, this only includes the rendition of the character as it appears in “Steamboat Willie,” without including the other traits that Disney added to the character in later animated shorts, like the magical features introduced to the character in Fantasia, another short launched in 1940.
Each token was minted for 0.001 ETH, approximately $2. Also, each of the 2,000 NFTs is identical, including a picture of Mickey as depicted in “Steamboat Willie,” taking the rudder of a ship with its hands.
Also, unrelated to the NFT collection, a Mickey-themed meme coin was launched on Ethereum, seeking to celebrate the character’s entrance to the public domain. On its webpage, the meme coin states:
Mickey is and always will be a timeless icon of culture. Meme coins have become a digital reflection of culture. The launch of the Mickey token not only marks his release into public domain but also the beginning of a new adventure into the unknown.
Steamboat Willie’s Mickey Mouse is the only version of the character that has came into the public domain until now.
