A Single Photo Sold for 4 Million Won... Who Is This Woman?

Virtual human Mari of DoorOpen. / Photo by DoorOpen

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Juhyung] An irreplaceable token (NFT) photo of a 'virtual human' that looks exactly like a real person has attracted attention after being sold for 4 million KRW. Virtual humans refer to computer graphics (CG)-created influencers who have recently gained popularity online.

According to the virtual human content company 'DoorOpen,' the NFT photo of their virtual human 'Mari' was sold for 4 million KRW at the 'NFT Busan 2021' auction held recently at BEXCO in Busan.

At this event, DoorOpen unveiled the female virtual human Mari, as well as the male virtual humans 'Noah' and 'Seonwoo.' The company offered NFTs containing solo photos of these virtual humans starting at 500,000 KRW.

NFTs are a type of digital certificate created using blockchain technology that cannot be forged or altered. By attaching this certification to digital files such as images or music files, authenticity can be verified. Creating unique, non-replicable files increases their scarcity value.

Although the auction starting price was 500,000 KRW, the ownership of Mari's NFT solo photo was ultimately sold for 4 million KRW, which is eight times the starting price. The final auction prices for Seonwoo and Noah's NFTs were 2.5 million KRW and 650,000 KRW, respectively.

Virtual humans have recently gained great popularity on social networking services (SNS) and other platforms.

For example, Lil Miquela, known as the most famous virtual human worldwide, has 3.1 million Instagram followers and works as a model for major luxury brands such as Chanel, Prada, and Louis Vuitton. It is reported that her earnings last year alone reached approximately 13 billion KRW.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.