Unicorn Meat 🍖
Built by the Ethereum Foundation in March 2016.
Before ERC-20 was finalized. Before Uniswap. Before DeFi.
🍖 w🍖 —
📊 24h Vol: —
📈 Mkt Cap: —
🕐 24h: —
via CoinGecko
Available On
The Unicorn Meat Story 🍖
Unicorn Meat is a historic Ethereum token, created in March 2016 by Alex Van de Sande — Ethereum Foundation developer, lead of the Mist Browser (Ethereum's first graphical wallet), and pioneer of the Ethereum Name Service concept. It was one of the earliest demonstrations of token mutations, DAOs, bribable voting, and on-chain exchange. A month after the Ethereum Foundation created Unicorns 🦄 as an offering in return for anyone who donated 2.014 ETH to the Ethereum Foundation Tip Jar, Alex devised what was conveyed as an April Fool's joke – a Unicorn Meat token and a Unicorn Meat Grinder Association contract allowing any Unicorn holder to grind their Unicorns for Unicorn Meat, as well as make proposals to change how the operation functioned.
A week after the announcement, Piper Merriam, a core developer of Ethereum, used the proposal and voting mechanism to take control of the contract and take 5 ETH for themself. In 2025, an Ethereum wanderer followed Piper's footsteps and passed a proposal to transfer the Unicorn Meat contract ownership to themself. Then 100M Unicorn Meat were minted and the contract renounced. A once infinitely mintable historic meme relic now has a finite supply, a renounced contract, and is wrapped to be tradable and owned by anyone!
Unicorn Meat is a piece of Ethereum history — one of the earliest tokens on the network, predating the ERC-20 standard, CryptoKitties, and the modern DAO ecosystem 🦄🍖.
All three contracts share the same creator address – Alex Van de Sande of the Ethereum Foundation.
TOKENOMICS
- Total Supply: 100 million
- Fair Launch: No gated presales, anyone can buy at launch.
- Treasury: Funds development, marketing, listings, and more.
- LPs: Allocated for DEX listings and liquidity pools.
- Team: Rewards the core contributors, vested over time.
- Community Rewards: Funds future claims and community building initiatives.
40% Ethereum Liquidity
20% Base Liquidity
20% Treasury
10% Community Rewards
10% Team
Buy Unicorn Meat 🦄🍖
Token Details
Token Name: Unicorn Meat
Symbol: w🍖
Ethereum Contract:
0xDFA208BB0B811cFBB5Fa3Ea98Ec37Aa86180e668
0xDFA2...668
Base Contract:
0xa0ff877E3d4f3a108B1B3d5eB3e4369301D2b2D7
0xa0ff...2D7
Decimals: 3
Preserving History
🦄
AIRDROP
Unicorn holders and evil Etherean Unicorn grinders were airdropped 10% of the Unicorn Meat supply on Aug 2, 2025. 3% was divided amongst the seven Unicorn grinders, and 7% to Unicorn holders distributed proportionally to their Unicorn holdings.
🍖
FUN
The spirit of the Unicorn April Fool's Joke was to have fun and we will preserve that. Future rewards, mutations?, initiatives will foster that same spirit. Could the Unicorn Meat Grinder come back?
🏆
LEADERBOARDS
Alex envisioned (and coded) a Unicorn Killers Hall of Fame. Word on the street is something magical is coming. Will you compete for most evil Etherean?
Wrap 🦄🍖
Wrap Unicorn Meat 🍖
Want to wrap or unwrap Unicorn Meat between the original 2016 contract and the wrapper?
Wrap Unicorns 🦄
Want to wrap or unwrap Unicorns 🦄 between the original 2016 contract and the wrapper?
Note: Wrapping requires two transactions (approve + wrap). The button will handle both for you automatically.
Proof of Steak 🥩 Season 1 (Ended)
Season 1 of Proof of Steak has concluded. If you participated and have unclaimed rewards, connect your wallet below to check your balance and claim.
Contract Address: 0x715d50635fE3CDe8A4b7f4601D266459bee60EcA
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Season Information
Season Status: -
Season Length: -
Season Start: -
Season End: -
Time Remaining: -
Total Steaked: -
Reward Pool: -
Steak Stats
Connect your wallet to see your steak stats.
Steaked Meat: -
Max Steaked: -
Last Update: -
Share of Pool:
Estimated Reward: -
Claimed: -
Pending Rewards
-
Note: Your pending reward is calculated based on your share of total steak time. This value will decrease as more participants join and steak their Meat, since the reward pool is distributed proportionally among all steakers. Final rewards are only available after the season ends and you maintain at least your peak steaked amount.
Steak Your Meat 🥩
You have: - w🍖
Unsteak Your Meat
Unsteak your steaked Unicorn Meat. If the season has ended and you're eligible, you'll automatically claim your rewards after unsteaking.
Transaction in progress... Please wait.
Join the 🦄️ Herd!
Claim Your 🦄️ Herd Subdomain
Join the legendary 🦄️ herd by claiming your unique subdomain on the🦄.eth!
Choose any name you like: alice.the🦄.eth, meatlover.the🦄.eth, or get creative! Each wallet can claim one subdomain and update it anytime.
💡 Pro Tip: Use your subdomain as your X (Twitter) name to show off your herd membership! Rumor has it that herd members will be rewarded 👀.
Ready to Join?
Gas Cost Note: Subdomain claiming involves complex smart contract operations (ENS resolution, storage, validation).
Current gas price: Loading... gwei
💡 Tip: Gas costs are lowest during low network activity (late night/early morning UTC)
💡 Tip: Gas costs are lowest during low network activity (late night/early morning UTC)
Timeline
July 30, 2015
The Frontier! 🚀
Ethereum mainnet is launched. Vitalik Buterin, Gavin Wood, Alex
Van de Sande, and the team set out to drive adoption.
July 30, 2015
Feb 11, 2016
Feb 11, 2016
The Foundation Tip Jar 💰
Alex Van de Sande, on behalf of the Ethereum Foundation, creates
the Tip Jar to fund development and community initiatives. Each
donation of 2.014 ETH to the Tip Jar is rewarded with a rare Unicorn
🦄 token.
Mar 24, 2016
The Unicorn Grinder 🍖
Alex Van de Sande creates the Unicorn Meat Grinder Association
contract, allowing Unicorn holders to grind Unicorns 🦄 for new
Unicorn Meat 🍖 tokens. Ethereum developer Piper Merriam takes
control of the contract and 5 ETH for themself.
Mar 24, 2016
July 7, 2025
July 7, 2025
Meatiny! 🪖
An Ethereum wanderer passes a proposal
to transfer the Unicorn Meat contract ownership to themself. Soon
after, 100M Unicorn Meat were minted and
the contract renounced. The historic ERC-20 contract is now wrapped and its tokens ownable by anyone.
2025
BIC Treasury 🏛️
The Bureau of Internet Culture (BIC) adds Unicorn Meat 🍖 to their DAO treasury, recognizing it as an artifact of internet culture and Ethereum history.
2025
Frequently Asked Questions 🤔
-
What is Unicorn Meat?
Unicorn Meat (🍖) is a historic Ethereum token created in March 2016 by Alex Van de Sande, who served as head of UX at the Ethereum Foundation. It was one of the earliest tokens on Ethereum, predating the ERC-20 standard. The original contract has been wrapped as w🍖 and is now tradable on decentralized exchanges.
- How do I buy Unicorn Meat?
-
What is the Grinder Association?
The Unicorn Meat Grinder Association is the DAO that governs Unicorn Meat. Created by Alex Van de Sande in 2016, it uses quadratic voting — one of the earliest implementations of this governance mechanism on Ethereum. Any Unicorn token holder can participate in governance proposals through the Association.
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Who created Unicorn Meat?
Unicorn Meat was created by Alex Van de Sande (avsa.eth), who was the head of UX at the Ethereum Foundation. He deployed the Unicorn token, the Unicorn Meat Grinder (which converts Unicorns into Meat), and the Grinder Association DAO — all in March 2016, making these some of the earliest smart contracts on Ethereum.
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What makes Unicorn Meat historically significant?
Unicorn Meat holds multiple firsts in Ethereum history: it was used in one of the first on-chain DEX demonstrations, pioneered the first token upgrade pattern (grinding Unicorns into Meat), and predates the ERC-20 standard. It is one of the few tradable tokens directly created by an Ethereum Foundation team member, making it a unique piece of crypto history.
-
Is this the real
historical Unicorn Meat?
Yes! This is the original Unicorn Meat created in March 2016 by Ethereum's Alex Van de Sande. The contract was claimed through the Unicorn Meat Grinder Association, 100M Unicorn Meat were minted and the contract renounced. The historic ERC-20 contract is now wrapped and its tokens ownable by anyone. The meat is 100% authentic from the historic 2016 contract.
-
Why is Unicorn Meat
significant?
Unicorn Meat is a historic token created by Ethereum core contributor Alex Van de Sande as an on-chain April Fools' joke. It allowed anyone to "grind" their Unicorn token to receive Unicorn Meat — making it one of the first demonstrations of token mutation on Ethereum. Beyond the humor, it's also one of the few tradable tokens directly created by the Ethereum team.
-
Why acquire Unicorn
Meat and make it tradable?
Yes, there's intrigue in reviving a coin created by the Ethereum Foundation — and potential monetary upside — but there's more to it. The Unicorn Meat contract was acquired through a DAO proposal that reached quorum. Anyone holding even one Unicorn could have done the same — and eventually, someone would have.
Both the Unicorn Meat Grinder Association and the contract had been dormant for years. The Grinder Association saw just 23 transactions, the last in 2017. The Unicorn Meat contract itself had only 7, ending in 2016.
Some may cry foul for minting 100M and renouncing the contract so no more can be minted — and that's fair. But we hope more will appreciate the chance to own a piece of Ethereum history and enjoy what comes next. -
Why renounce the
contract?
As long as the Unicorn Meat Grinder Association isn't the owner of the Unicorn Meat contract, the Unicorn Grinder remains unusable. Renouncing the contract ensures no one can mint additional tokens, preventing meatflation and making the token safely tradable.
-
Why was Unicorn Meat
wrapped?
The original Unicorn and Unicorn Meat contracts deviate slightly from the modern ERC-20 standard, making them incompatible with most centralized and decentralized exchanges. Wrapping Unicorn Meat makes it tradable on modern platforms. For those who prefer the original, wrapped tokens can be unwrapped 1:1 at any time.
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Can I unwrap Wrapped
Unicorn Meat?
Yes! Wrapped Unicorn Meat (w🍖) is fully interoperable with the original 2016 Unicorn Meat contract. You can freely wrap and unwrap tokens 1:1 at any time.
To wrap:
- Go to the original Unicorn Meat token on Etherscan.
- Connect your wallet and find the
approveAndCallfunction. - Enter:
_spender: 0xDFA208BB0B811cFBB5Fa3Ea98Ec37Aa86180e668_value: Amount of 🍖 you want to wrap_extraData: Leave empty (0x)
- This will mint you an equal amount of w🍖.
- Or, just use the Wrap button on this website for a one-click option.
To unwrap:
- Go to the Wrapped Unicorn Meat contract.
- Connect your wallet and find the
unwrapfunction. - Enter the amount of w🍖 you want to burn.
- You'll receive the same amount of original 🍖 from the 2016 contract.
Use the Unwrap button on this site if you prefer a simpler UI.
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