Everyone’s talking about NFTs these days, even though the explanation for these digital tokens is elusive.
If you’re wondering how weird things have gotten in the NFT era, consider this: an Indonesian student’s NFT joke has turned him into a millionaire overnight.
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Let’s define what an NFT is.
NFT stands for non-fungible token, and, speaking broadly, it refers to a unit of data that is unique, and, as such, holds value.
The data that proves the token’s uniqueness is stored on the blockchain, and this data is uniquely identifiable.
What might an NFT look like?
There are unlimited examples, but one hypothetical NFT might be a piece of digital art. It isn’t just an image stored online, it’s a unique image with data proving that it’s owned by one person. In theory, this gives it value, and it can be sold and resold, just like physical art.
An Indonesian student just got super rich from NFTs.
Sultan Gustaf Al Ghozali, a 22-year-old computer science student from Java, told Vice that he got into NFT as a joke.
“I was thinking it might be funny if one of the collectors collected my face,” he said.
He took tons of selfies.
Long before NFTs were even a thing, Al Ghozali took hundreds of selfies over the course of five years. Originally, he wanted to turn them into a timelapse video. But after seeing how NFTs had blown up, he decided to sell the selfies as digital tokens.
The selfies were priced to sell.
After deciding to sell his selfies as NFTs, Al Ghozali needed a price. He decided on $3 per picture. While they weren’t selling too well at first, that all changed when a celebrity chef randomly stumbled on his selfies and decided to promote them.
The value skyrocketed.
Total trade volume of his collection reached 317 Ether, equivalent to more than $1 million U.S. Trade value per individual selfie worked out to about $806 apiece.
Al Ghozali has also made over $100,000 on royalties from people who’ve bought, and then resold, his selfies.
He’s done with listing selfies.
In a message to those who’ve invested in them, Al Ghozali said it’s fine to flip the NFTs, but asked his supporters to not ‘abuse’ the photos.
He didn’t clarify what this meant, but did say that such abuse would disappoint his parents.
It’s given him a nice nest egg.
Now that he’s gotten into the NFT game, gotten rich off the NFT game, and left the NFT game, Al Ghozali needs to figure out what to do next. From the sounds of it, he’d like to use his riches to start an animation studio.
NFTs are weird.
We’re sure to eventually see a market correction where the price of NFTs stabilizes somewhat, or perhaps the collapse of NFTs, or perhaps NFTs being more valued than actual money. It’s impossible to say for sure at this point.
Are you in the NFT game?
If so, we want to hear about your experiences. Let us know what you’ve made, or lost, in the wild world of NFTs, share your tips, and let us know what you think of this story in the comments.
