Irene Zhao Rakes In A Whopping $7.5 Million By Selling Her Sticker NFTs in 10 Days
Local influencer Irene Zhao raked in millions, thanks to her ardent fans in January after launching her NFTs on Jan 14.
The sale of IreneDao, a series of NFTs minted from her Telegram meme sticker pack brought her a whopping SGD7.5 million. DAO stands for decentralised autonomous organisations, essentially clubs for anything crypto related. The “simp DAOs” gained popularity after a dedicated bunch of simps, or men who would do anything for their object of affection, banded together to buy and sell NFTs of their favourite Twitch streamers, OnlyFans models, and singers, to name a few.
The IreneDao collection is listed on Opensea with over 1107 items, where the cheapest is the “Have Fun Staying Poor” NFT priced at 0.94 ETH, which is approximately SGD3000.
Irene defined simp as Simplicity, Integrity, Meaning, Purpose, perhaps in an attempt to put a positive spin on a derogatory term that has been associated with online fans, generally men, who will do anything for the object of their obsession.
However, that did not stop netizens from expressing their disdain over the current boom in the NFT market.
NO… just no. I miss 2014.#crypto https://t.co/1JYTDg6Ll3 — John Cho (@JohnCho__) January 16, 2022
Some were sad they missed out on an opportunity to sell their NFT of Irene at a higher price, now that there is a demand.
While others actually admired her business acumen.
Irene Zhao is a 28 year old Singapore based Chinese influencer who is an NUS alumnus. She was a commodity broker before pursuing a career in the crypto industry. In an interview with Cointelegraph, Irene mentioned that one of her fans suggested that she turn her Telegram sticker pack into NFTs.
She minted a total of 1106 stickers and it sold out within minutes. Youtuber Logan Paul bought 20 of Irene’s NFTs for USD270,000. The most expensive NFT he owns now is priced at USD25,563.12.
Irene isn’t the only influencer who has a “simp DAO”. Streamer Belle Delphine who is known for selling “gamer girl bathwater” has a few in her name, selling trading card style NFTs.
Credits: BelleDao, Opensea
Irene wanted to disrupt the creators market as per her Twitter bio and she definitely did it, raking in all that dough. The NFT market is booming recently from Bored Ape to the Indonesian man, Ghozali, who sold his selfies taken from 2017 till 2022. Despite being a meme, the man made SGD1.3 million for it. Will the novelty last? Only time will tell.
Reporter’s Opinions: I am just done. Although I do appreciate their business acumen, I just don’t understand how this is art.
The amount of money people spend on frivolous shit just gets to me sometimes. First it was bath water, farts, used underwear to fucking bored apes and now sticker packs? What next?
But then again, these are simps. And they will do anything to support their favourite creators to keep the fantasy going. My advice?
Get off the internet and get a fucking life.
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