Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey testifies remotely by videoconference in this screenshot taken from a video during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing entitled “Breaking the News: Censorship, Suppression and the 2020 Election”, in the moderation practices of Facebook and Twitter content at Capitol Hill in Washington, USA, November 17, 2020.
Reuters
Jack Dorsey, who is selling his first tweet as a non-fungible token, said on Tuesday that he would donate the proceeds to charities.
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 bid. As of Tuesday morning, the biggest offer is from Sina Estavi, CEO of Bridge Oracle, for $ 2.5 million, according to the website.
The auction will end on March 21, said Dorsey. He will then immediately convert the profits into bitcoin and donate to the Give Directly’s Africa Response fund.
The tweet’s NFT auction comes amid an increase in the popularity of encrypted collectibles. Ownership of these assets is registered on a blockchain – a digital ledger similar to the networks that support bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. But the 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.
Dorsey was also a vocal advocate of bitcoin. Last month, he announced that he is partnering with music mogul Jay-Z to create a grant fund to finance the development of the digital currency, initially in Africa and India. Its digital payments company Square also bought approximately 3,318 bitcoins at the end of February, expanding its October 2020 purchase from 4,709.
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