Indonesian Student Who Earned $1M Selling Selfie NFTs Makes $1.8M Comeback in Memecoin Presale

Sultan Gustaf Al Ghozali, the Indonesian college student who made headlines in 2022 for earning a million dollars selling nonfungible tokens (NFTs) of his selfies, has returned to the spotlight. Ghozali recently raised $1.8 million in a presale for a memecoin project.

In January 2022, Ghozali created a collection of NFTs called "Ghozali Everyday," featuring daily selfies he took over five years. The collection gained significant support from the crypto community, earning Ghozali, who was then a student, over $1 million.

After graduating from college in 2023, Ghozali announced on social media platform X that he would no longer be taking selfies, stating that he considered his success with the NFTs to be the result of a "stupid idea" that turned out to be lucrative.

Ghozali recently resurfaced on X amid a renewed interest in memecoins. On March 24, he revealed the second iteration of "Ghozali Everyday," a hybrid project involving memecoins and NFTs on the Base blockchain.

The presale for Ghozali's project quickly exceeded its 400 Ether cap, reaching 527 ETH, approximately $1.8 million, at the time of writing. However, Ghozali announced on X that he would be refunding any additional ETH sent after reaching the cap.

The resurgence of interest in memecoins has been attributed to the recent uptick in Bitcoin prices, with traders on the Solana network driving much of the momentum. Solana presale projects reportedly raised $100 million in just three days from March 15 to 18.

Despite the enthusiasm for memecoins, some in the crypto community have expressed concerns. They describe the frenzy surrounding Solana memecoins as "peak degeneracy," noting that users are sending tokens to founders for presales without any guarantee of receiving tokens in return.

Alongside the Solana network, Coinbase's layer-2 network Base has seen a significant increase in total value locked (TVL), reaching $2.13 billion on March 23. Some experts suggest that after the current meme season on Solana, attention may shift towards Base, potentially leading to further runs in the layer-2 network.

However, asset manager Franklin Templeton recently issued a warning about memecoins, stating in an investor note that they have "no inherent value or utility." Despite this, the asset manager acknowledged that meme-based tokens can provide investors with rapid gains.