Some people are more enterprising than others. When twelve-year-old Benjamin A. heard about NFTs for the first time, he wanted to get on board too. With great success.
School, friends, sports and maybe a round of Fortnite or Minecraft in between: In the life of an average twelve-year-old, earning money only comes in the form of pocket money. Benjamin A. thought a little bigger when he first heard about the digital art business with NFTs in the spring. And has made a small fortune since then.
The non-fungible tokens (NFT) experienced a real boom in the spring, the work “Everydays: The First 5000 Days” by the artist Beeple made headlines when it was auctioned for 58 million euros. That was a record on the art market – and not just for digital images. Benjamin, who lives in London, also got the hype. “I heard of NFT for the first time in the spring,” he told CNBC. “I was fascinated by the idea that the blockchain can be used to transfer ownership so easily.”
Fascination with NFT
NFTs are based on the same technology as cryptocurrencies, the blockchain. Compared to Bitcoin, for example, there is one crucial difference: While the crypto coins are completely interchangeable with one another like a real coin, each NFT is only available once, it is clearly identifiable. This makes it possible to pass on the ownership of a work of art as a clearly traceable digital certificate – and thus make it tradable.
A., who started programming at the age of five, wanted to participate. He began designing his own series of NFTs based on the popular Minecraft game, which he was playing a lot at the time, he recalls. However, he caught the big fish when he created his own digital figures: the so-called “” (strange whales). From the dolphin with a Viking helmet to the pipe-smoking blue whale, he has now designed more than 3000 of the cute pixel marine mammals. And put them up for sale.
300,000 euros in profit
With success. Since the whales, designed and programmed by Benjamin himself, were first offered on an NFT platform in July, he has sold hundreds of them. In one day alone, he took 80 ether with the whale pictures – this corresponds to around 220,000 euros at the current rate. Because NFT technology makes it possible to get a share of every resale – in Benjamin’s case it is 2.5 percent – the resales of the whales, which are increasing in value, have so far washed a further 30 ethers into his coffers. A huge penny for an almost teenager. Especially when you consider that he only invested around 250 euros to create it himself.
But his buyers also got a good deal, the boy thinks. “When people buy the Weird Whales, they are investing in me and my future. If I keep doing this, maybe one day I can be as successful as Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk.”
So far, however, he has not turned his crypto investments into cash. Also because he doesn’t even have a bank account himself. “For now I will keep everything in ether and not exchange it for traditional currencies,” he explains. “Perhaps it will serve as proof that you will no longer need an account in the future.” But he’ll have to set up an account soon, he thinks. For tax reasons.
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