Twitter CEO and co-founder Jack Dorsey gesticulates while interacting with students at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in New Delhi, November 12, 2018.
Prakash Singh | AFP | Getty Images
Jack Dorsey appears to be offering to sell the first tweet as a non-fungible token, or NFT.
The CEO of Twitter shared a link Friday afternoon on a platform called “Valuables”, where his March 21, 2006 tweet “just configuring my twttr” was up for auction. The biggest offer is from Sina Estavi, CEO of Bridge Oracle, for $ 2.5 million on Saturday afternoon, according to the website.
Ownership of these assets is registered on a blockchain – a digital ledger similar to the networks that support bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. However, unlike most currencies, a person cannot exchange one NFT for another as he would with dollars or other assets. Each NFT is unique and acts as a collector’s item that cannot be duplicated, making them rare by design.
Crypto collectibles have exploded in popularity recently, with anyone, from artists to rock bands, coining their content. A digital version of the 2011 Nyan Cat meme, for example, was sold for nearly $ 600,000 at an online auction last month.
Some people who are buying NFTs believe that this can help them prove ownership of a virtual item thanks to the blockchain.
Dorsey also defended digital currencies, displaying “#bitcoin” in his Twitter bio, so jumping to NFTs seems like a natural extension. Its digital payments company Square also bought approximately 3,318 bitcoins at the end of February, expanding its October 2020 purchase to 4,709.
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