An Indonesian student has sold the digital rights to nearly a thousand selfies for more than $1 million. Sultan Gustaf Al Ghozali of Semarang University has taken a photo of himself in front of his computer almost every day for the past five years. The computer science student wanted to use the selfies for a time travel video at his graduation.
The project ran under the motto “Ghozahli every day”. When the student heard about blockchain technology, he decided to try an NFT sale. NFT stands for Non-Fungible Token and is a virtual asset that is unique and non-exchangeable.
The 22-year-old reported that he just thought it could be “funny” if one of the NFT collectors included his face in his collection. He put his selfie offer online at the end of December. A week ago, a real sales hype set in: more than 400 people bought the property rights to the photos.
“You would be surprised where the money comes from”
As of Friday, the collection was valued at more than $1 million. He hasn’t found the courage to tell his parents the story, Ghozali said. “You’d be surprised where the money came from.” He will invest the money and continue to take a selfie of himself every day.
Like cryptocurrencies, the NFT system is based on blockchain technology. In contrast to cryptocurrencies, a non-fungible token is unique and, to a certain extent, a virtual collector’s item that can be sold or exchanged using a certificate. A real hype had broken out about NFT in the past few months, with collectors paying millions for digital paintings, music and videos. (AFP)
Stock market legend Peter Tuchman: “That’s why I’ve never owned a share!”(06:32)
What are NFTs?
“Non-fungible tokens” (German: non-replaceable tokens) are digitally protected objects. As with cryptocurrencies, they are based on the blockchain system. This means that blocks of digital information are strung together like on a chain. The transactions are therefore all visible.
The system is used to mark digital art such as images, memes or collectibles as unique pieces. So the images can still be copied and downloaded. However, the owner of the original has an irreplaceable, unforgeable digital mark and thus ownership. It is similar to analog art. While the original of the Mona Lisa hangs in the Louvre in Paris, the picture has been copied countless times.
Most NFTs are paid for with the cryptocurrency Ethereum. The most expensive work of art was sold in March 2021 for the equivalent of 69.3 million US dollars.
“Non-fungible tokens” (German: non-replaceable tokens) are digitally protected objects. As with cryptocurrencies, they are based on the blockchain system. This means that blocks of digital information are strung together like on a chain. The transactions are therefore all visible.
The system is used to mark digital art such as images, memes or collectibles as unique pieces. So the images can still be copied and downloaded. However, the owner of the original has an irreplaceable, unforgeable digital mark and thus ownership. It is similar to analog art. While the original of the Mona Lisa hangs in the Louvre in Paris, the picture has been copied countless times.
Most NFTs are paid for with the cryptocurrency Ethereum. The most expensive work of art was sold in March 2021 for the equivalent of 69.3 million US dollars.