'Disaster girl' sells digital image as NFT for almost $650,000

An American woman whose image became an internet hit has sold the digital property for $640,000.

Zoe Roth, 21, plans to pay for college with the massive amount of money from what is called an NFT, which she has made from an image taken of her when she was just four.

The picture, snapped by her father, shows her smirking in from of a house on fire.

The shot became dubbed "disaster girl" and became popular as a joke meme.

READ MORE: First NFT artwork at auction sells for staggering $88.7M

The house on fire, in Mebane, North Caroline was actually not an emergency, but was a controlled blaze being used by fireys to show children.

An NFT is a Non-Fungible Token.

In its most simple explanation, it attributes ownership of a digital property to one single person.

READ MORE: What is an NFT?

Ms Roth said she will also donate some of her money to charity.

She said it was "crazy" how the photo became familiar around the world.

"People who are in memes and go viral is one thing, but just the way the internet has held on to my picture and kept it viral, kept it relevant, is so crazy to me," she told the paper.

"I'm super grateful for the entire experience.

READ MORE: First ever tweet on sale for $2.5 million

"The internet is big. Whether you're having a good experience or a bad experience, you kind of just have to make the most of it."

According to the New York Times, the meme sold for 180 Ether, a form of cryptocurrency, at an auction on April 17 to a user identified as @3FMusic.

While the value of Ether fluctuates, it is worth around $640,000 ($US495,000).

The purpose of buying an NFT is to have explicit proof that you own something that is more or less completely online.

If you explicitly own an online property, then you have the right to license or re-sell it.

NFT ownership is verifiable on a blockchain – the same technology behind the world's most famous cryptocurrency Bitcoin.