How a 12‑Year‑Old Turned Pixel Whales into 2.5 Million RMB via NFTs

A 12‑year‑old British boy, Benjamin, created a series of pixel‑style whale drawings during his summer vacation and sold them as NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain.

The collection, called “Weird Whales”, contains 3,350 uniquely colored and accessorized whales, each generated by a Python script that combined body, hat and pipe assets.

Within nine hours of the July launch the entire series sold out, earning Benjamin about 80 ETH (over 1.6 million CNY). Subsequent secondary‑market trades have generated additional royalties of 2.5 % per sale, bringing his total earnings to roughly 1,500 ETH (≈30 million CNY), with expectations to exceed 2.5 million CNY before the school year starts.

Benjamin’s father, a software developer in the finance sector, taught him programming from an early age; the boy also runs a GitHub, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram presence to promote his work.

What is an NFT?

An NFT (Non‑Fungible Token) is a unique digital asset recorded on a blockchain, serving as a verifiable “digital certificate of ownership” for items such as images, audio, video or code. Because blockchain data cannot be forged, NFTs guarantee authenticity and scarcity, attracting collectors.

Examples of high‑profile NFT sales include a 5,000‑image digital collage sold for over $69 million, Tim Berners‑Lee’s source‑code NFT for $5.4 million, and even a 52‑minute flatulence audio clip for $400.

In China, similar phenomena have appeared, such as the rapid sell‑out of Alipay’s “Dunhuang Flying‑Heaven” payment‑code skins and the popularity of Tencent’s blockchain platform “Huanhe”.

Benjamin’s story illustrates how young creators can leverage blockchain technology to monetize digital art, while also highlighting the speculative nature and cultural memes surrounding NFTs.