• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia
Some Fortune Crypto pricing data is provided by Binance.
NFTs and CultureNFTs

He’s just 12 years old and has already made over $350,000 selling NFTs

By
Chris Morris
Chris Morris
Former Contributing Writer
Down Arrow Button Icon
August 26, 2021, 12:58 PM ET

Benyamin Ahmed likes whales. He’s also enjoyed coding since he was 5. And those two hobbies have given this 12-year-old a solid base for his financial future.

In July he sold a collection of digital art he coded, called Weird Whales, as non-fungible tokens (NFTs). He’s already made $350,000. And by the end of August, his earnings for those are expected to top $400,000.

Ahmed’s collection sold out in nine hours, earning him a total of 80 Ether tokens, worth about $248,000 at the time. He also collects a 2.5% commission each time those NFTs sell in the secondary market, which have earned him another 30 Ether. At today’s market price, that puts his return at $343,640.

Not bad, considering his startup cost was $300—mostly for gas fees, or the cost of interacting with a blockchain like Ethereum, the public ledger that underpins the cryptocurrency Ether. (It costs money to create, or “mint,” NFTs, the act of recording them on a blockchain.) And it’s even more impressive since he doesn’t consider his art skills to be his strong suit.

“I’m not a natural artist, but I watched a few YouTube videos and worked out how to draw whales in pixel form really quickly,” he told The Telegraph.

It’s more than just drawing, though, he said. There’s computer science involved in making the graphics unique and in deploying the assets to a blockchain, the public ledgers that underpin cryptocurrencies.

This wasn’t Ahmed’s first foray into the NFT-verse. Earlier this summer he created a collection of 40 avatars called Minecraft Yee Haa. That batch didn’t sell so well or so fast, he said, but it was an invaluable learning experience that contributed to the creation of Weird Whales.

Ahmed is already at work on another NFT project. He has treated himself to a few pieces of digital art with his earnings, he said. What he hasn’t yet done, though, is convert the cryptocurrency he was paid into traditional cash, as he told CNBC. In fact, he doesn’t have a bank account.

Subscribe to Fortune Daily to get essential business stories straight to your inbox each morning.

About the Author
By Chris MorrisFormer Contributing Writer

Chris Morris is a former contributing writer at Fortune, covering everything from general business news to the video game and theme park industries.

See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in NFTs and Culture

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • Future 50
  • World’s Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
Sections
  • Finance
  • Leadership
  • Success
  • Tech
  • Asia
  • Europe
  • Environment
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Health
  • Retail
  • Lifestyle
  • Politics
  • Newsletters
  • Magazine
  • Features
  • Commentary
  • Mpw
  • CEO Initiative
  • Conferences
  • Personal Finance
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
About Us
  • About Us
  • Editorial Calendar
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Diversity And Inclusion
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map

© 2025 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.


Latest in NFTs and Culture

NFTs and CultureCrime
Father of crypto-millionaire rescued after being held for ransom—and having his finger severed
By Catherine McGrathMay 5, 2025
8 months ago
CompaniesCryptocurrency
Remember MoviePass? It’s still around—and going all in on crypto
By Ben WeissMay 1, 2025
8 months ago
NFTs and CultureDonald Trump
Trump’s latest crypto venture will be a real estate video game
By Ben WeissApril 15, 2025
8 months ago
NFTs and CultureNFTs
Man pleads guilty to tax fraud for failing to report $13 million in CryptoPunks sales
By Catherine McGrathApril 14, 2025
8 months ago
NFTs and CultureCryptocurrency
A 23-year-old spent his last $500 on a memecoin and then shot himself playing Russian roulette
By Catherine McGrathApril 10, 2025
8 months ago
A picture of three gold coins with the term NFT inscribed on them.
CompaniesNFTs
Magic Eden acquires trading platform Slingshot in push to expand beyond NFTs
By Ben WeissApril 9, 2025
8 months ago

Most Popular

placeholder alt text
Economy
The $38 trillion national debt is to blame for over $1 trillion in annual interest payments from here on out, CRFB says
By Nick LichtenbergDecember 17, 2025
15 hours ago
placeholder alt text
Success
As millions of Gen Zers face unemployment, McDonald's CEO dishes out some tough love career advice for navigating the market: ‘You've got to make things happen for yourself’
By Preston ForeDecember 16, 2025
2 days ago
placeholder alt text
Economy
America's $38 trillion national debt 'exacerbates generational imbalances' with Gen Z and millennials paying the price, warns think tank
By Eleanor PringleDecember 16, 2025
2 days ago
placeholder alt text
Innovation
An MIT roboticist who cofounded bankrupt Roomba maker iRobot says Elon Musk's vision of humanoid robot assistants is 'pure fantasy thinking'
By Marco Quiroz-GutierrezDecember 16, 2025
2 days ago
placeholder alt text
AI
IBM, AWS veteran says 90% of your employees are stuck in first gear with AI, just asking it to ‘write their mean email in a slightly more polite way’
By Marco Quiroz-GutierrezDecember 16, 2025
1 day ago
placeholder alt text
AI
'Robots are going to be amongst us': Qualcomm exec says buckle up for the next 5 years. Your car is going to be the first shoe to drop
By Nino PaoliDecember 17, 2025
22 hours ago