Tech

‘Disaster Girl’ Zoe Roth Sells The Famous Meme As An NFT For $490,000

(Photo by Noam Galai/Getty Images for BuzzFeed)

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Zoe Roth, more famously known as the face of the “disaster girl” meme, sold the non-fungible token (NFT) of the original image for an equivalent of $490,000, a Tuesday report shows. An NFT is a certificate of ownership of a digital asset.

Roth, now a 21-year-old senior at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, got viral for the 2005 photograph of her looking slyly into the camera in front of a burning house, according to Raleigh News & Observer. The photo taken by her dad to simply test his new camera soon was all over the internet and has by now turned into one of the most recurring memes online.

The account of a Dubai-based music studio (@3FMusic) shelled out 180 ethers, the amount with current USD equivalent of $490,000, for the exclusive digital version of the meme, the Daily Mail reported.

Roth said she was contacted by someone over email, who told her about the prospect of selling the NFT for a six-figure sum, according to Raleigh News & Observer. At first, she was dubious about the idea. “There’s no way,” she said she thought at the time. (RELATED: NFT Of New York Times Column About Blockchain Sells For $560,000)

Subsequently, she and her dad delved into the matter and even talked to the authors who had successfully sold their memes’ NFTs, including “Bad Luck Brian” and “Overly Attached Girlfriend”, according to Market Watch. Roth then hired a lawyer and a manager to assist her with the logistics of “minting” and auctioning the NFT.

The music company that purchased the “Disaster Girl” NFT is also said to be behind numerous other acquisitions, including the “Overly Attached Girlfriend” meme, “Mushy’s Midafternoon Nap“, Billie Eilish emoji portrait and jumping spider enjoying coffee in the morning.