NFTs are the latest craze on the internet!
When he was just five years old, Ahmed had a natural interest in computer programming. His father worked as a web developer, and it inspired him to start learning HTML and CSS. He continued his coding skills by studying JavaScript, among other programs.
Lately, NFTs and smart contracts have caught his attention, and he created his NFT Collection.
“I first learned about NFTs earlier this year,” Ahmed, based in London, tells CNBC Make It. “I got fascinated with NFTs because you can easily transfer the ownership of an NFT by the blockchain.”
NFTs are unique digital assets that look like images and video clips, but they have code recorded on a blockchain. Each NFT has ownership and validity tracked through the blockchain.
Ahmed’s first NFT collection called Minecraft Yee Haa is made of 40 colorful pixelized avatars. He solely created and coded the NFT. “I created it after spending too many hours playing Minecraft,” Ahmed said
Despite not selling the collection, Ahmed considered the project as a learning lesson. His urge to continue developing an NFT was on.
In June, he began his second NFT project, Weird Whales. The project features 3350 pixelated whales with different traits. Consequently, the project made a meme using a whale’s image similar to that of Cryptopunk.
The project costs $300 as a gas fee.
His dedication to his project saw him learn how to code the collection from online tutorials. According to his father, a developer of Boring Banana NFT sent Ahmed a script to follow while coding Weird Whales.
“My brother and my dad were very excited and fascinated at how they came out,” Ahmed says. “We did some work on the website and the smart contract and posted a thread on Twitter.”
Ahmed launched his collection in July and sold out of the entire inventory within nine hours. He made 80 ether that day, which was worth $255,000 at today’s pricing. On top of that, he has earned 30 Ether from royalty on secondary sales.
To date, Ahmed has earned up to $350000, and he is projecting to hit $400000 by the end of August. Currently, he doesnt hold a bank account, but he relies on a cryptocurrency wallet.
“I plan to keep all my ether and not convert it to fiat money,” Ahmed says. “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.”
Moving Foward, Ahmed is working on another project with a meme component.
“I think memes have significant value in this space, as a lot of projects have some kind of meme-link to it,” Ahmed says, like how meme-inspired dogecoin recently surged in popularity. “I think memes play a big part in this space.”
Ahmed’s father intends to trademark Weird Whales and other upcoming projects. A smart move that will allow him control over his IP.
“When people buy Weird Whales, they’re investing in me and my future,” Ahmed says. “If I carry on as I’ve been, I might end up like other tech entrepreneurs out there like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos.”