MEMES are big business in more than one way. An increasing number of memes are being sold as NFTs for incredible amounts of money. Faced with this growing trend and the proliferation of memes on the internet, could the "memeconomy" be the new cash cow?


By definition they're the stuff of cult followings, endlessly replayable and totally viral. Memes are an integral feature of the internet of today. From Bernie Sanders to Tim Cook, many stars have become memes on social networks. Recently, there have been some less famous players though their faces are known by most on social networks who have been able to make the most of the meme game.

You may not know her name but at the age of 21, Zoë Roth has sold her meme for almost 500,000 dollars. The young woman is indeed the little girl of the "Disaster Girl" meme, which started with a photograph by her father of her with a mischievous smile in front of a burning house. This meme, famous around the world, was auctioned off for 180 Ethereum on the Foundation platform. The sale concluded on April 18 , with user @3FMusic making the winning bid, after two days of online bidding. Despite this exceptional sale, the Roth family plans to profit further from this success as they still retain their copyrights and will receive 10% of future sales, the New York Times reported. "It's the only thing that memes can do to take control," Roth was told by Kyle Craven, known for being the "Bad Luck Brian" meme.


The memeconomy

This meme economy or "Memeconomy" has obviously found an audience. Last March, the Foundation platform launched a week of auctions dedicated to the most emblematic memes of the web. The creator of "Nyan Cat," Chris Torres, launched this "Memeconomy" event by organizing the sale of memes such as Grumpy Cat," "Keyboard Cat" and "Bad Luck Brian."



Ben Lashes, who manages the Roth family and other creators of these cult memes, told the New York Times that his clients have raised a total of just over $2 million in NFT from these sales. It's a meme economy that's making the world go round. With the meme market booming, these enticing figures could well seduce creators.

Of course, memes aren't the only market niche when it comes to booming NFTs. Twitter boss Jack Dorsey sold his first tweet as an NFT for nearly 3 million dollars.