Yahoo Finance Indonesian student makes $1 million selling his own NFT selfies
A 22-year-old university student from Indonesia has become an overnight internet sensation after turning a personal selfie project into a major profit.
Ghozali Ghozalu converted and sold 1,000 selfies as non fungible tokens (NFTs) on the OpenSea NFT marketplace, making himself a millionaire in the process.
“I never thought anybody would want to buy the selfies,” he said, explaining that he had priced each picture at “only $3”.
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Nearly every day for the past five years, Ghozali took pictures of himself sitting in front of his computer, appearing aloof with a straight, unemotional face.
He said he had planned to use the album of nearly 1,000 selfies to create a timelapse video commemorating his upcoming graduation, but changed his plans after discovering blockchain technology and the crypto metaverse.
However, his NFT triumph wasn’t immediate.
It wasn't until an Indonesian celebrity chef chanced upon his profile a couple of weeks later on the OpenSea website and promoted it.
This created the first sales and then, demand exploded.
Even though his project lacks artistic value, the floor price currently sits at 0.42 ETH (ETH-USD), and his Ghozali Everyday - as he's creatively named the enterprise - has seen 355 ETH worth of volume traded.
There are currently 498 addresses owning an NFT from the collection.
"I was thinking it might be funny if one of the collectors collected my face," said Ghozali, speaking to reporters who had turned up at his school campus this week after his story went viral.
Ghozali has since Tweeted that he will no longer be listing any more of his famous selfies and has urged collectors "not to abuse his photos".
“You can do anything like flipping or whatever but please don't abuse my photos or my parents will [be] very disappointed to me,” he wrote, announcing his departure.
“I believe in you guys so please take care of my photos.”
Ghozali plans to invest the money, and dreams of opening his own animation studio, according to AFP. But he’s still very much in high demand, accumulating more than 16,000 followers on Twitter where he actively comments on other NFT stories.
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