“Disaster Girl” meme sold as NFT earns its owner $430,000

I believe there are few people who haven’t seen the “Disaster Girl” in one of a million memes circling around the internet. The adorable girl is now 21 (yes, we’re old) and she found a way to make money from the viral photo of her. She sold it as an NFT and earned almost half a million dollars.

It was 2005 and Zoe Roth was only four years old when her dad Dave took the famous photo of her. In the photo, she’s smirking while a house is on fire behind her. As she explained to The News & Observer, the firefighters were putting out a controlled fire, set on a nearby piece of property to clear the land. Zoe’s dad snapped a photo to test out his new camera, and three years later he uploaded it to JPG magazine’s contest “Emotion Capture.” The image appeared on JPG’s website – and from there it spread like a wildfire.

Fast forward to 2021, Zoe found a way to turn her internet fame into cash. She was suggested to try and sell her meme as an NFT. Reluctant at first, Zoey did research and eventually changed her mind. On 16 April, She and her dad listed the “Disaster Girl” token for a 24-hour auction. Zoe told The News & Observer that she expected it to sell for 100 Ether. Turned into US dollars, that would be around $220,000. However, a user named @3fmusic bought the token for 180 Ether. It was worth about $430,000 at the time of purchase. But since Ether’s value fluctuates by the minute, Zoe’s latest value of Zoe’s token was more than $470,000.

Zoe and her dad earned big money on the original sale, but there’s more. Market Watch reports that they minted the NFT and coded it so that anytime the NFT is bought, they receive 10% of the sale. So, not only that Zoey went viral and got rid of the spider (please tell me you know this one), but she also earned big money from the meme featuring her. I’d say it’s a pretty fortunate cause of events.

I personally am still pretty confused about NFTs and cryptocurrencies. It just won’t click no matter how much I read about it. If you’re anything like me but want to profit from NFTs as a photographer, this may be a good place to start. You can also learn more from the Wall Street Journal’s video I posted above.

[via Market Watch]