Couple make nearly $120,000 in under 6 hours selling NFTs to save home from foreclosure

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After Thorne Melcher lost her job as a software engineer in February, bills started piling up. Her girlfriend, Mandy Musselwhite, was able to cover a few expenses selling her artwork, but the couple quickly fell behind on their mortgage payments.

Melcher and Musselwhite own a homestead outside of Atlanta. Not only did they spend most of their savings to afford the $300,000 property in 2019, but it includes a farmhouse where they've raised six ducks, two geese and other animals.

"I knew we had to think of something," Musselwhite, 25, tells CNBC Make It. "We really didn't want to lose this property. We love it here. The animals love it here."

Fearful of foreclosure, the couple co-created Dastardly Ducks, a collection of 10,000 cartoon duck nonfungible tokens (NFTs) generated by code with unique combinations of over 100 different traits, in order to raise money. The couple launched it Wednesday and it sold out in less than six hours, earning them just under $120,000.

"We saved our farm by selling cartoon ducks. It was like a fever dream," Melcher, 33, says. "They immediately started going so fast. I couldn't sleep until they were all gone."

Although the couple wasn't already known in the NFT space, a small group of supporters helped generate interest in the project.

It was perfect timing too. The couple owed $35,587 in mortgage back-payments and had to drop off a check to their lawyer on Thursday, or they would've been expected to appear in court on Friday. But Musselwhite was able to hand over a $40,000 check instead, putting them ahead on their payments.

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