Singapore-based influencer nets NFT earnings of $7.5m in days

These days, it seems you can make money in all the strangest ways. 

Singapore-based influencer and Instagram model Irene Zhao seems to have made millions of dollars through her non-fungible token’s (NFT) that recently blew up on the cryptocurrency market.

An NFT is unique digital data such as a drawing, meme or game character. The owner of an NFT can trade or sell the unit of data on digital markets.

Zhao, 28, who was a commodity broker before pursuing a career in the crypto industry, has seen her NFTs purchased by prominent individuals like Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz and YouTuber Logan Paul, netting her $7.5 million in just 10 days.

NFTs are purchased, traded and sold through cryptocurrency, mostly Ethereum, before withdrawing in real currency.

Zhao’s IreneDAO collection is currently listed on Opensea, a peer-to-peer marketplace for NFTs, rare digital items and crypto collectables.

Her collection consists of over a thousand items, showcasing images of her and meme phrases such as “Damp It,” “Up Only,” “Simp” or “Wen Moon.”

The cheapest NFT of “Have Fun Staying Poor” costs 0.94 Ethereum or about $3,000.

Zhao’s collection already has a trading volume of 2,300 Ethereum, which is equivalent to approximately $7.5 million.

Her endeavours began with her selling the images as a sticker pack on Telegram, before a fan advised her to turn the collection into NFTs. 

Zhao, whose Instagram account has over 400,000 followers, then tokenised the stickers into 1,106 NFTs, which were sold out in minutes.

Yes we are!! Proud member of team @Irenezhao_ I love the hustle. This young woman has created her own brand in less than a year. And NFT’s allows her to pull her community together. pic.twitter.com/iZiAqXj1iX

— Mike Novogratz (@novogratz)

Mr Novogratz tweeted he was a “proud member of team Irene Zhao,” while Logan Paul is said to have purchased 20 NFTs from Zhao’s collection for over $360,000.