An NFT of Twitter's very first tweet just sold for nearly $3 million

[Cal Jeffrey]

Through the looking glass: Non-fungible tokens are all the rage with the rich kids these days. Everything digital, from videos to legitimate artwork, seems to be up for sale with NFTs attached. Many are paying ridiculous sums for these intangible items. Whether this is just a fad or something that is here to stay remains to be seen.

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey sold an NFT of his very first tweet for $2,915,835.47. Dorsey put the tweet up for auction on March 5 and received a $2.5 million bid the next day from Sina Estavi, CEO of blockchain firm Bridge Oracle. Dorsey set his auction to end on March 21, the 15th anniversary of the very first Twitter message. Although Estavi held the highest bid for over two weeks, he inexplicably raised it to the strangely specific price just before the auction closed.

Dorsey's tweet was nothing profound, simply stating, "just setting up my twttr."

just setting up my twttr

— jack (@jack) March 21, 2006

It hardly seems worth nearly $3 million dollars. However, one could say the same about most NFT transactions, such as the Beeple collage that fetched more than $60 million just over a week ago, or the 10-second clip of LeBron James dunking a basketball that sold for over $208,000.

Sent to @GiveDirectly Africa fund 🌍Thank you, @sinaEstavi. pic.twitter.com/aEZu07auLV

— jack (@jack) March 22, 2021

If you aren't aware, NFT stands for non-fungible token. In a nutshell, an NFT is a digital token that establishes ownership of a digital good through a blockchain. The whole thing feels faddish and scammy to me, but what do I know? Check out our NFT explainer if you want the full lowdown.

On Monday, Estavi told Reuters he paid for the tweet with 1630.5825601 Ethereum, of which online auction house Cent took five percent. Dorsey converted the remainder to 50.8751669 Bitcoin and donated it to charity.

Image credit: Sattalat Phukkum

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/89009-nft-twitter-first-tweet-sold-nearly-3-million.html

 

[QuantumPhysics]

NFT and crypto are the most obvious money laundering tools ever invented.
Can't wait till the government puts the clamps down.
India already did.

 

[YumHypocrisy]

NFT and crypto are the most obvious money laundering tools ever invented.
Can't wait till the government puts the clamps down.
India already did.

I usually lurk but I'm genuinely curious. In a lot of other comments you've said you fully support and believe in the free market. Isn't this somewhat at odds with asking for government regulation of crypto?

 

[captaincranky]

A time honored adage seems to be in need of an "update"

Sic: "A fool and his, (or her), bitcoin are soon parted company".

 

[texasrattler]

I usually lurk but I'm genuinely curious. In a lot of other comments you've said you fully support and believe in the free market. Isn't this somewhat at odds with asking for government regulation of crypto?

If anyone thinks there is a free market, there isnt. Likely never has been.
There is always someone or something controlling what goes on.

There is no such thing as free to begin with.

 

[YumHypocrisy]

If anyone thinks there is a free market, there isnt. Likely never has been.
There is always someone or something controlling what goes on.

There is no such thing as free to begin with.

Oh of course. The free market is only as free as those at the top decide it is.

I'm just confused since Quantum has said on many occasions that "the free market is always right" or other libertarian nonsense. But then also keeps saying crypto needs to be regulated or made illegal entirely. You can't truly believe in a free market and also think the government needs to step in anytime fools are parted with their money.

 

[Bl00dyMinded]

NFT and crypto are the most obvious money laundering tools ever invented.
Can't wait till the government puts the clamps down.
India already did.

India didn't do it... They are trying to pass a law on it. Government will never get a control on crypto. Accept it. The only control they can do which is already in place is once that cryptocurrency gets exchanged and into US banks...

 

[duckofdeath]

You know the next market crash is near when billionaires starts burning their hardly earned money on nonsense.

 

[umbala]

India didn't do it... They are trying to pass a law on it. Government will never get a control on crypto. Accept it. The only control they can do which is already in place is once that cryptocurrency gets exchanged and into US banks...

You're hilarious. If banks were to one day decide to globally ban all cryptocurrency they would all plummet in value immediately. Right now the banks see it as a way to quickly make a bunch of money without much effort, so they're playing along. But that may change in the future when the bubble bursts, like it always does. Real money is backed by governments and economies. What is Bitcoin backed by? The promise of an even more foolish "investor" willing to pay more for the Bitcoin than you did, therefore inflating its value?

 

[MaestroIT]

Does this mean that Sina Estavi first tweet is now "just setting up my twttr."? what's Jack's first tweet now?

 

[R00sT3R]

He should be arrested and charged with crimes against democracy, along with his Facebook cohort, Zuckerberg.

 

[Peter Farkas]

Wealth inequality at its best. What a waste of money while zounds of people struggle on a daily basis....

 

[ypsylon]

I humbly apologize for being enthusiastic about NFT in one of previous posts.

I was under the impression that NFT are some kind of embedded hash encryption tokens which will make uploading stolen work basically impossible with author being the only one to control the original signature.

As it turns out its another cryptocurrency scam bubble-piramid scheme. I hope everybody involved in it will burn for all eternity. As World doesn't have enough problems right now 'crypto-mining' consumes over 25% of produced electricity planet-wide. That's completely F!


Never underestimate the mankind thirst for greed.

 

[envirovore]

I usually lurk but I'm genuinely curious. In a lot of other comments you've said you fully support and believe in the free market. Isn't this somewhat at odds with asking for government regulation of crypto?

Careful, he'll publicly state how he wishes he could harass you offsite so he could violate the TOS for challenging him on that.

I came here to say the same thing to him though..."But that's the free market you love so much dude!"

 

[stewi0001]

How does one own his tweet?

 

[captaincranky]

How does one own his tweet?

I would think in the same way you own what's in your toilet, until you flush it, or post it.

 

[captaincranky]

Non-fungible tokens are all the rage with the rich kids these days. Everything digital, from videos to legitimate artwork, seems to be up for sale with NFTs attached. Many are paying ridiculous sums for these intangible items. Whether this is just a fad or something that is here to stay remains to be seen.

"Kidz these days", are almost completely detached from reality. Sic: They load a Farming simulator, and the think they own a farm. After that, it's not a big leap to get them to believe that a hash string in the ether is "money".

I honestly don't think the days are too far away, when we sit around with catheters up our backsides, and imagine we're all the king of England.