12-year-old boy earns £290,000 selling drawings on NFT platform

While some still do not understand the world of digital money, a twelve-year-old boy from London has earned around £290,000 through his creativity after creating a series of digital artworks in the style of emojis called Weird Whales and selling them via NFT platforms, reports BBC News.

While others were relaxing during the school holidays, Benymin Ahmed sought a certificate of ownership for his artworks, which allows them to be sold as NFT digital tokens. This has earned him a considerable sum of money that he keeps in the cryptocurrency Ethereum since he does not have a traditional bank account. Certainly, this means that their value could rise or fall, but it seems this boy understands cryptocurrencies better than some adults.

NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, represent digital assets that include numerous unique tangible and intangible items, most often something collectible like sports cards, digital sneakers, digital memorabilia, animations, images, and similar.

Not like other children

Although it may sound unusual, Benymin and his brother, with the help of their father who is a programmer, have been programming since ‘preschool’ age. He found inspiration for this project in whale memes, and with his own program, he created 3,350 whales that resemble emojis.

Benymin’s father told BBC News that it all started as a fun exercise for Benymin and his brother, but they quickly realized there could be something more.

– At some point, we started to become more serious about the project – said Benymin’s father, adding that the boys coded for 20 or 30 minutes a day so it wouldn’t be too overwhelming for them.

At the same time, Benjamin’s classmates are still unaware of his newfound crypto wealth, although he has created a YouTube channel where he showcases his hobby and advises other children.

– My advice to other children who might want to enter the digital world is not to force themselves to write code, especially if they feel peer pressure, just do what they know best – Benymin humbly explained.

Plans for the future

Weird Whales is already Benyamin’s second collection of digital art, and before it, he created a set inspired by Minecraft that he also sold, but not as successfully.

He also has plans for the future and does not intend to stop working, and for his third collection, he is preparing a superhero theme. Additionally, he would like to create a game with whales because he believes it would be ‘really cool’ and fun.

His father also noted that he has hired lawyers to review Benymin’s work and provide him with advice on how to protect his design for the future.

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