NFT: Boy makes £290,000 selling NFT
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A 12-year-old boy has made about £290,000 during the school holidays after creating a collection of artwork and selling non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
Benyamin created a series of pixelated pictures called Weird Whales.
The piece of art is digital and when someone buys it, they buy the digital certificate of authenticity which proves they own it - rather than having the physical piece of art.
Sound complex? It isn't as confusing as it seems, read below to find out more about NFTs.
Non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, are a type of cryptographic asset.
NFTs are entirely digital. Each one is unique, similar to a trading card.
You can think about it in exactly the same way we look at famous paintings like the Mona Lisa - despite there being lots of copies, only one original painting exists. An NFT is like a digital certificate of authenticity which can be used to prove a person owns the original piece of digital artwork.
The artwork
Weird whales was inspired by a well-known pixelated whales meme image and a popular digital-art style.
But Benyamin coded his own program to create the set of 3,350 emoji-type whales.
This is his second digital-art collection, his first was a Minecraft-inspired set that didn't sell as well.
He is already working on a superhero-themed collection and would like to make an "underwater game" which features the whales.
"That would be amazing," he said.
Benyamin's dad has spoken to lawyers to make sure the collection of work doesn't break copyright law.
Learning to code
Benyamin started coding when he was only age five with his brother Yousef.
His dad said it started as a fun exercise but they both became really good so started to take it more seriously. The boys practised for 20 or 30 minutes each day.
Benyamin hasn't yet told his classmates of his new-found wealth but he has made some YouTube videos about his hobby, which he enjoys as well as swimming, badminton and taekwondo.
"My advice to other children that maybe want to get into this space is don't force yourself to do coding, maybe because you get peer pressure - just as if you like cooking, do cooking, if you like dancing, do dances, just do it to the best of your ability," he said.
The money
The NFTs sold made about £290,000. But this isn't in cash or in the bank.
The money is in the form of crypto-currency called Ethereum. This means the money could go up or down in value and if the digital wallet, where the currency is kept, is hacked then the authorities cannot help.
Benyamin has never had a traditional bank account.
Art world and NFTs
Many people in the art world are divided over the new trend for NFTs.
Artists say it is another way to make money and some of them are sold at very extremely high prices.
But others argue that they aren't a good long-term investment because they are not physical copies.
- Published27 August 2021
- Published27 August 2021
