---
title: "12-Year-Old Earns $400,000 Selling NFTs to Idiots"
description: "12-year-old Benyamin Ahmed has made nearly $400,000 after programming and selling a series of NFTs of pixelated doodles called \"Weird Whales.\""
date: "2021-08-26"
modified: "2021-08-26"
authors:
  - name: "Dan Robitzski"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/danrobitzski.md"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/12-year-old-400000-selling-nfts-to-idiots"
categories:
  - "Blockchain"
  - "Future Society"
  - "NFTs"
  - "Science & Energy"
tags:
  - "cryptocurrency"
  - "ethereum"
  - "nft"
  - "the digest"
---

# 12-Year-Old Earns $400,000 Selling NFTs to Idiots

![12-year-old Benyamin Ahmed has made nearly $400,000 after programming and selling a series of NFTs of pixelated doodles called "Weird Whales."](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/12-year-old-400000-selling-nfts-to-idiots2.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Weird Whales\</em\>*

## Candy, Babies

The latest news from the world of NFTs — those dubious [digital ownership certificates](<https://futurism.com/nfts-have-huge-persistence-problem.md>) for art, media, and just about [anything else](<https://futurism.com/nft-painting-sold-69-million.md>) bought and sold over the blockchain — is the story of a 12-year-old boy who's made a small fortune selling pixelated doodles to thousands of [suckers](<https://futurism.com/crypto-titan-nfts-liberate-art.md>), sorry, crypto enthusiasts.

Benyamin Ahmed [told *CNBC*](<https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/25/12-year-old-coder-made-6-figures-selling-weird-whales-nfts.html>) that he's fascinated by the concepts of blockchain tech and NFTs, and the time he spent playing games like "Minecraft" and chatting with other NFT creators inspired him to program a set of his own. And hey, shame on us for assuming that the NFT fad had already [faded into irrelevance](<https://futurism.com/nft-prices-crashing.md>), because right now Ahmed is sitting on nearly $400,000 in Ethereum after his NFT collection sold out overnight.

## Weird Whales

Ahmed made his fortune almost overnight with a collection of 3,350 NFTs that he named "Weird Whales." Much like the prominent ["CryptoPunk" NFT collection](<https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/23/visa-buys-cryptopunk-nft-for-150000.html>), each NFT comes in the form of a pixelated cartoon image of a whale and, well, not much else.

But that ethereality hasn't stopped buyers. *CNBC* reports that the Weird Whales all sold out in nine hours. Ahmed, who spent $300 on the entire project, raked up 80 ether on those initial sales. That's worth about $250,000 as of this article's publication. Since that initial sale in July, Ahmed has collected another 30 ether — about $94,000 — in royalties when some of his buyers decided to sell their whales to someone else.

By the end of the month, *CNBC* projects that he'll have over $400,000 in Ethereum — and Ahmed says he doesn't plan to cash out.

"I plan to keep all my ether and not convert it to fiat money," Ahmed told *CNBC*. "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."

**READ MORE:** [This 12-year-old coder is set to earn over $400,000 after about 2 months selling NFTs](<https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/25/12-year-old-coder-made-6-figures-selling-weird-whales-nfts.html>) \[*CNBC*\]

**More on NFTs:** *[Crypto Titan Makes Grandiose, Nonsense Claim That NFTs “Liberate” Art](<https://futurism.com/crypto-titan-nfts-liberate-art.md>)*

## Author
Dan Robitzki is a senior reporter for Futurism, where he likes to cover AI, tech ethics, and medicine. He spends his extra time fencing and streaming games from Los Angeles, California.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/danrobitzski>)

## More

- [The Guy Who Sold a $69 Million NFT Thinks NFTs Are Pretty Dumb](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/beeple-sold-69-million-nft-dumb.md>)
- [Artist Sells NFT of Single Pixel for $1.7 Million](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/artist-sells-nft-single-pixel.md>)
- [Architect Sells Rendered 3D House as $500,000 NFT](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/architect-sells-rendered-3d-house-500000-nft.md>)
- [Someone Paid $650,000 for a Nonexistent Yacht in the Metaverse](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/650000-nft-yacht-metaverse.md>)
- [Blockchain Guy Sets Priceless Drawing on Fire to Mint 10,000 NFTs, Only Sells Four](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/priceless-drawing-fire-nfts.md>)
- [Reality TV Star Stops Selling Her Farts in Jars to Sell Fart NFTs Instead](<https://futurism.com/fart-jar-nfts.md>)
- [Humanoid Robot Sophia Sells 12 Second Video NFT for Almost $700,000](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/humanoid-robot-sophia-sells-12-second-video-nft-for-almost-700000.md>)
- [Study Finds 95 Percent of NFTs Are Now Worthless](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/study-nfts-worthless.md>)