:-)

The Original Smiley

Born September 19, 1982. Now on Solana.

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The Story of :-)

How three characters changed digital communication forever

Carnegie Mellon BBS — 1982

From BBS to Billions

What started as a simple joke marker on a university bulletin board became the foundation of all digital emoticons and emoji. Today, over 10 billion emoji are sent daily — and it all started with three characters: :-)

The Evolution

1982

:-) is born

Scott Fahlman posts the first emoticon on a CMU bulletin board

1999

First emoji set

Shigetaka Kurita creates 176 emoji for NTT DoCoMo in Japan

2010

Unicode emoji

Emoji added to the Unicode Standard, going global

2015

Most-used emoji

"Face with Tears of Joy" becomes the most-used emoji worldwide

2024

:-) on-chain

The original smiley comes to the Solana blockchain

2026

Scott onboarded

Scott Fahlman joins the :-) token project and donates all fees to charity

The Inventor is On Board

Scott E. Fahlman, Carnegie Mellon professor and the creator of :-), is part of this journey.

:-)

Scott E. Fahlman

Research Professor at Carnegie Mellon University's School of Computer Science. On September 19, 1982, he proposed using :-) and :-( as joke markers on an electronic bulletin board — giving birth to the emoticon.

The dev team sent him 3% of the token supply — which he burned. He's not in it for the money. He's in it to give people a smile.

Guinness World Record

Officially recognized as the creator of the first digital emoticon.

View record
Guinness World Records tweet confirming Scott Fahlman created the first digital emoticon

Recognized by Grok AI

Even X's own AI Grok confirms: :-) is the first internet meme, created by Scott Fahlman. Classic!

Grok AI tweet confirming :-) as the first internet meme by Scott Fahlman

Featured in TIME Magazine

TIME covered the story of how Scott Fahlman's three-character invention changed digital communication.

Read article

LinkedIn Profile

Scott Fahlman's official LinkedIn profile — verify his credentials and involvement.

View profile

CMU Website

Scott's official Carnegie Mellon page where he mentions the :-) token project.

Visit website
:-)

Every Fee Brings a Smile

All contributions Scott receives go to local Pittsburgh charities that he and his wife support.

“

A group of crypto-enthusiasts (not related to CMU, but with my cooperation) has created a memecoin celebrating the creation and long-lasting popularity of the :-) and :-( emoticons. Any contributions that I receive as a result of this memecoin will go to some local Pittsburgh charities that my wife and I support.

🔥

3% Supply Burned

The dev team sent Scott 3% of the token supply. He burned it all. He's not in it for the money — he's in it to give people a smile.

Token Fees
:-)
Scott Fahlman
Pittsburgh
Charities

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Fees Collected

0

All going to Pittsburgh charities

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Get Your :-)

Join the original smiley movement on Solana

Contract Address
Network
Solana
Platform
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How to Buy

Step 1

Get a Wallet

Download Phantom or any Solana-compatible wallet

Step 2

Buy SOL

Purchase SOL on an exchange and send it to your wallet

Step 3

Visit PumpFun

Go to PumpFun and search for the :-) token

Step 4

Swap & Smile

Swap your SOL for :-) and join the movement

Join the Smile

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