How a 12-year-old made six figures on NFTs…

The kid’s name is Benyamin Ahmed. His father is a computer programmer, so Benyamin became interested in computers at a young age. He was programming using basic HTML code by the time he was five years old. And he later advanced to JavaScript and more complex programming languages.  It was through this process that Benyamin became exposed to smart contracts and NFTs at age 12. And he was quickly taken in by the technology. 

As he put it, “I got fascinated with NFTs because you can easily transfer the ownership of an NFT by the blockchain.” As a reminder, NFTs are digital collectibles. They allow us to cryptographically secure and authenticate unique assets or data on a blockchain. And smart contracts are contracts that self-execute on a blockchain once the agreed-upon parameters are met.  Benyamin’s statement on NFTs really highlights one reason why digital assets are valuable. 

Ownership can be transferred from one person to the next with just the click of a button. It’s a simple thing, but it’s powerful. Compare this to trying to sell a gold coin or a piece of fine art. Those transactions often have to flow through intermediaries, making them time-consuming and inconvenient. Plus, the middlemen – the coin dealers and the art galleries, in this example – each take a cut of the sale. 

In this context, it’s easy to see why anyone would love the idea of NFTs and digital assets. Benyamin’s first foray into this world was to create a collection of Minecraft-avatar NFTs. Minecraft is a popular online game for younger kids.  The Minecraft NFTs didn’t make a bunch of money for Benyamin. But they gave him the idea to create his own collection. In June, Benyamin minted a collection of 3,350 pixelated whales. They were inspired by the CryptoPunks and Bored Ape collections! He called them the Weird Whale collection.   

Here’s a visual:

It cost Benyamin $300 plus his time to mint the Weird Whale collection. And get this – the entire collection sold for $255,000. That’s a monetary return of 84,900%. Not too shabby for a 12-year-old.  And that’s just the beginning…  

Benyamin also programmed royalty-generating smart contracts into each of his NFTs. These contracts pay him royalties of 2.5% of the sale price any time a Weird Whale NFT trades on a secondary market. That happens automatically. For example, if an individual sells one of these NFTs on OpenSea for $1,000 in ether (ETH), the smart contract automatically sends $25 worth of ETH to Benyamin. And this happens over and over again, every single time a Weird Whale NFT is sold.  How’s that for a brilliant business model?  

As it stands, Benyamin has earned over $95,000 in royalties since selling the Weird Whale collection. That brings his total earnings up to $350,000. And funds will only continue to roll in. I’m sure Benyamin will make at least seven figures on his NFTs. Maybe even eight.  This raises the question – what’s a 12-year-old going to do with all this money?  

Here’s Benyamin’s answer: “I plan to keep all my ether and not convert it to fiat money. It might be early proof that, in the future, maybe everyone doesn’t [need] a bank account and just has an ether address and a wallet.” 

Talk about a view of our digital-first future. Benyamin has raked in $350,000, yet he has never had a bank account… and he doesn’t particularly want one. He’s got his Ethereum wallet right in the palm of his hand. That’s powerful.