Ghozali is said to have spent up to five years clicking selfies in front of his computer. Later, he converted the selfies into NFTs and then uploaded them to OpenSea in December 2021.
This Indonesian college student has now allegedly become a millionaire by selling nonfungible token (NFT) versions of his selfies on the OpenSea NFT marketplace. Sultan Gustaf Al Ghozali is a 22-year old computer science student from Semarang, Indonesia. He managed to convert and sell almost 1,000 selfie images as nonfungible tokens.
Based on a statement by Ghozali through a YouTube video, he had been taking photos of himself for five years between the ages of 18 and 22. He said that he did all that as a way to look back on his graduation journey.
Uploading my photo into nft lolhttps://t.co/E3Q4sBmN26#NFT #opensea pic.twitter.com/rD51rdcpzp
— Ghozali_Ghozalu (@Ghozali_Ghozalu) January 10, 2022
The Ghozali selfies were taken sitting or standing in front of his computer that was later changed into nonfungible tokens and uploaded to OpenSea in December 2021. The artist then set the price for every nonfungible token selfie at $3 without expecting any interest from serious buyers. While he embarked on the journey of monetizing his expressionless images, Ghozali said:
You can do anything like flipping or whatever but please don’t abuse my photos or my parents will very disappointed in me. I believe in you guys so please take care of my photos.”
Everything went against his wildest expectations and imaginations. Ghozali’s NFT offering managed to blow up as prominent members of Crypto Twitter showed their support by acquiring and marketing the offerings.
Ghozali happened…the year of Gozali @Ghozali_Ghozalu pic.twitter.com/HKOw7FZddj
— Arnold Poernomo (@ArnoldPoernomo) January 12, 2022
With the growing popularity, one of Ghozali’s NFT sold for 0.247 Ether in January. That was worth around $806 at the time of purchase as highlighted by AFP. This young Indonesian entrepreneur even adds a touch of customization by offering some background information that comes along with the selfies. This update is believed to add to the rarity of the nonfungible token.
every #NFT photo I take has a story behind
This photo was taken during the second corona vaccine https://t.co/pZfJKoKuc9
— Ghozali_Ghozalu (@Ghozali_Ghozalu) January 11, 2022
At its highest point, Ghozali’s selfie NFTs sold for 0.9 ETH, worth around $3,000, based on an extensive Lifestyle Asia report. The young artist’s collection eventually reached a total trade volume of 317 ether (ETH), which is equivalent to over $1 million at the current prices. Ghozali also made his first tax payment based on that income via OpenSea.
this is my first tax payment in my life https://t.co/VDa8KYYPGs
— Ghozali_Ghozalu (@Ghozali_Ghozalu) January 14, 2022
Despite the recent sluggish performance of the general crypto market, the nonfungible token marketplace and blockchain gaming sector continue to record huge transaction volumes. Based on previous reports, DappRadar data indicates that the number of UAW that is linked to Ethereum NFT dApps increased by 43% since Q3 2021.
Moreover, the money that was generated by nonfungible token trading surged from $10.7 billion in Q3 2021 to $11.9 billion in the first ten days of 2022. All that growth shows that the NFT market is ready to continue with the explosive growth that it recorded last year. Analysts and commentators say that as more artists join the market, NFTs will enjoy mainstream adoption later this year.
