Web3 culture is an ever-changing beast. Forged by degens, innovators and the curious souls that have leapt into the world of blockchain technology, Web3 culture exists to unite, uplift and encourage all. One NFT brand serves as the true embodiment of that culture. That NFT brand is Rektguy.
Built around a character that’s a true blockchain degen, Rektguy grew from small-time beginnings into a recognised icon for artistic merit, unity, and emerging Web3 culture.
With Rektguy, holders experience a potent whirlwind of the best the Web3 industry has to offer – but what exactly is Rektguy, what has Rektguy accomplished so far, and what can we expect from Rektguy in future?
Here’s our complete 2025 guide to Rektguy.
Key Insights
- First devised in January 2022 by OSF
- Debuted as a 8,814-piece NFT collection in May 2022
- Known for its striking brand and strong community
- Notable for its in-person events, cultural hegemony, and celebrity holders
- Expanded into Rekt Brands, Rekt Rewards and Rekt Drinks beginning late 2024
What is Rektguy?
Rektguy is an 8,814-piece NFT collection, minted on Ethereum in May 2022. Created by OSF, the collection also saw contributions from co-founders Mando and AlienQueen – with additional input from OSF’s own family.
This NFT collection is based on the character of “Rektguy” – a semi-autobiographical creation that is a reflection of a die-hard crypto trader. Repeatedly getting “rekt” by the crypto markets, his gloomy demeanour and drinking habits are a humorous take on the reality for many real-world Web3 degens.
Through this honest approach to portraying Web3 culture – created through OSF’s own experiences as a crypto trader – Rektguy quickly grew a sizeable fanbase, and became a symbol that many could connect to and rally around.
The creator of Rektguy is Ovie Faruq, better known as OSF. The idea behind the collection came from his time at Barclays bank, where, feeling disillusioned with the corporate world, he would doodle in his spare time. One of these doodles – a hooded skull figure holding a cup of coffee – would go on to become the Rektguy character.
At around this time, OSF was beginning to dive into the Web3 industry. As he began to create NFT art himself, this Rektguy character would become a calling card – first emerging in October 2021 with a 1-of-1 NFT on Foundation titled “gm”.
Rektguy would become increasingly prominent in his later digital creations. With its popularity, January 2022 saw OSF raise the idea of an NFT collection solely based around the Rektguy character – with this collection seeing its launch in May 2022.
What has Rektguy accomplished so far?
The Rektguy NFT collection debuted in May 2022.
Holders of OSF’s other NFTs – including his Degenz NFT collection – could mint a Rektguy NFT for free, with an additional mint available to the public for a fee. 8,814 total Rektguy NFTs were minted, and the collection attracted instant activity, reaching an all-time high floor price of 1.2 ETH.
Rektguy was released under a Creative Commons Zero (CC0) licence, meaning that any holder could make derivative artworks using their Rektguy NFT. The first notable derivative collection, titled eRektguy, debuted in June 2022 – and would become the first of many Rektguy derivative collections that continue to this day.
2022 saw Rektguy’s rise to cultural hegemony. Their Dive Bar Discord server became a hotbed for cutting-edge discussion, and social media figures such as The Patron and The Ghost – and later celebrities such as Snoop Dogg and Gary Vaynerchuk – helped push Rektguy’s cultural presence to the top of the industry.
Summer 2022 saw Rektguy hold The Rekt Show – their first IRL event – at burlesque venue The Box during NFT.NYC 2022. The event celebrated the journey of Rektguy to date, the community they had built, and the culture they had grown – being such a success that it would be repeated in London and return to NYC in future.
September 2022 saw the start of The Metallic War – a friendly rivalry between three groups of Rektguy holders: the Golden Girls, the Silver Foxes, and the Strawberry Laces. These groups continue to feud to this day, and show that within the Rektguy holder community exist passionate individuals looking to push eachother forwards.
September 2022 also saw OSF issue a challenge: if Rektguy hits 1 ETH, he’d get a “rekt” tattoo. When the challenge was made, the floor price sat at just 0.3 ETH. In solidarity, members of the Rektguy community pledged to also get a “rekt” tattoo if the 1 ETH target was reached – which occured in December 2022.
Knowing that the 1 ETH floor was coming, OSF got his “rekt” tattoo in advance – with Ian Rogers, CXO of Ledger – at Paris-based tattoo studio Tin-Tin Tatouages. Once the 1 ETH floor was hit, OSF revealed the tattoo, creating an huge community response and seeing many Rektguy holders follow up on their pledges too.
Two other Rektguy-related challenges are currently live. OSF has pledged to not cut his hair until the floor price hits 4.2 ETH, whilst co-founder Mando – who is “not a tattoo guy” – has promised to also get a “rekt” tattoo at a 4.2 ETH floor.
2023 was a quieter year – despite Gary Vee becoming a holder in May 2023. In 2024 though, Rektguy truly came alive.
July 2024 saw OSF announce that Rekt Brands – a company set up to manage the Rektguy IP – had given shares in the company to all Rektguy NFT holders, becoming the first major NFT collection to make such a move.
Cryptic social media posts that shared that “Something is brewing…” followed, leading to the August 2024 reveal of Rekt Rewards – a platform where users could earn DRANK points by completing social media quests and purchasing Rekt Drinks, a brand-new sparkling water beverage.
September 2024 saw the announcement that all revenues and royalties from future OSF artworks would be funnelled into Rekt Brands, serving to both grow the company, and show OSF’s ongoing commitment to the Rektguy community.
Rekt Drinks held its launch on October 30, 2024, available to purchase online in fiat, SOL and SOL USDC with near-global delivery. The launch was a huge success, with the total run – over 222,000 cans – selling out by November 1.
A few days later, Rekt Brands announced a $1.5M seed round, featuring investors such as Luca Netz of Pudgy Penguins, Zagabond of Azuki, and Jack Butcher of Visualize Value.
DRANK points became active shortly thereafter, leading to the November 22, 2025 launch of $REKT – an ecosystem token for the Rektguy community. Today, $REKT has a market cap of $50.2 million USD, with a fully-diluted value of over $82.5 million USD.
The Rektguy X profile became AI-ran in January 2025, and the brand has continued to grow. Rekt Drinks had a major booth presence at NFT Paris 2025, their Rekt Radio podcast reached its 100th episode in February 2025, and May 2025 saw the sell-out release of the Abstract Apple Rekt Drinks flavour.
What can we expect from Rektguy in future?
With the community continuing to be a core aspect of the Rektguy brand, much of its future is in their hands.
On the back of their recent seed round, Season 2 of Rekt Rewards coming to an end, and the success of Rekt Drinks so far, here’s what we could see in future:
- More Rekt Drinks flavours. Rekt Drinks has become a big success, and the team has made public their goal to sell 1 million drinks in just 12 months – with the team on track to hit that target.
- More community initiatives. Rektguy’s biggest strength is its passionate community. Capitalising on the passion, ideas and creativity of their supporters could be a big factor to their future success.
- More partnerships. With big-name Web3 backers and the community behind them, opportunities are rife to leverage other Web3 communities and boost both the Rektguy brand and their NFT holders.
Rektguy is more than just a movement – it’s the cultural backbone of the blockchain community. What began as a doodle in a notebook is now a rapidly-growing Web3 brand with true global ambitions.
Thanks to its community-first focus, Rektguy is one of the most highly-regarded projects in the industry – and with their community continuing to rally around their efforts, their rise to the top shows no signs of slowing.
Bullish on web3. Competitive soul.