'Disaster Girl,' now 21, makes $450,000 selling the original picture behind her meme 

The woman in the famous ‘Disaster Girl’ meme has sold the original photograph as an NFT for $473,000. 

Zoe Roth, 21, became an internet sensation at the age of four when she was pictured standing in front of a burning building with a devilish smirk on her face. 

The image has since served as a perfect meme for those who want to depict any disastrous scene or mischievous act.

The picture in the form of a non-fungible token (NFT) – a kind of unique digital asset that has exploded in popularity so far in 2021 – was snapped up for 180 Ethereum, which is equivalent to $473,000, by a collector known only as @3FMusic.

Zoe Roth, 21, became an internet sensation at the age of four when she was pictured standing in front of a burning building with a devilish smirk on her face

Zoe Roth, who was pictured in the famous ‘Disaster Girl’ meme has sold the original photograph as an NFT for $473,000

Zoe, a university student, and her father Dave – who captured the photo – were approached by an anonymous person via email in February who encouraged them to sell the image as an NFT.  

Each NFT has its own blockchain-based digital signature, which serves as a public ledger, allowing anyone to verify the asset’s authenticity and ownership.  

Zoe was pictured by her father in January 2005 when she and her family were living near a fire station in Mebane, North Carolina. 

The family went outside to see a controlled burn – a fire that is intentionally set to clear a property – and Dave snapped a photo of a smirking Zoe in front of the fire.

‘Nobody who is a meme tried to do that, it just ended up that way,’ Zoe told The Raleigh News & Observer. ‘Is it luck? Is it fate? I have no idea. But I will take it.’  

Since then the photograph has become an internet sensation. The NFT was coded in a way that will allow Zoe and Dave – who have said they will split the profits – to acquire 10 per cent of profits whenever the NFT is sold in the future.