Categories: InnovationWorkspace

Jack Dorsey’s First Tweet Sells For £2m

Twitter chief executive Jack Dorsey has sold ownership of his first tweet for just over $2.9 million (£2m).

Dorsey sold the message in the form of a non-fungible token (NFT), a form of unique digital asset that has exploded in popularity in recent weeks.

An NFT is a piece of data that resides on a blockchain digital ledger, which provides publicly accessible proof of ownership.

The assets are not “fungible”, or interchangeable, making them rare by design.

Unique token

Dorsey’s first Twitter message, “just setting up my twttr”, was posted fifteen years ago, on 21 March 2006.

The message’s NFT, which resides in the Ethereum blockchain, was sold on a platform called Valuables by a company called Cent, which specialises in tweets “autographed by their original creators”.

The highest bidder was Sina Estavi, the Malaysia-based chief executive of blockchain firm Bridge Oracle.

Estavi initially offered 1630.5825601 Ether, the equivalent of exactly $2.5m, on 6 March, before updating the offer on Monday to reflect that the same Ether figure was now worth just over $2.9m.

When asked by Reuters for comment on the transaction Estavi said he was “thankful”.

Dorsey, a Bitcoin enthusiast, opened bidding for the tweet on 6 March.

Digital art

He later said he would convert the proceeds to Bitcoin and donate them to a fund benefiting people in Africa impacted by Covid-19.

Dorsey receives 95 percent of the proceeds of the sale, while Cent receives a 5 percent commission.

An NFT does not restrict access to the original digital file, but acts as an addition to the file that makes it unique, and therefore more valuable, a process comparable to a work of art being signed by the artist.

The technology has been used for sales of digital art as well as collectible digital items and virtual assets in games.

Christie’s sold a work by digital artist Beeple titled Everydays: The First 5000 Days for a record $69.3m earlier this month.

Matthew Broersma

Matt Broersma is a long standing tech freelance, who has worked for Ziff-Davis, ZDnet and other leading publications

Recent Posts

Google Ad Monopoly Remedy Trial To Begin On Friday

Judge sets 2 May date for Google and US Justice Department hearing to consider remedies…

55 mins ago

Spotify ‘To Raise Prices Outside US’ This Summer

Spotify reportedly plans price rises across markets outside the US this summer as it seeks…

1 hour ago

Nigeria Upholds $220m Fine Against Meta Over Data Policies

Nigerian court upholds fine by competition and consumer protection agency over collecting user information without…

2 hours ago

Pure EV Sales Regain Market Share In China

Sales and market share of pure EVs regain their edge over plug-in hybrids amidst falling…

2 hours ago

DoorDash Makes £2.7bn Buyout Offer For Deliveroo

London-based food delivery company Deliveroo says DoorDash made buyout offer at £1.80 per share as…

3 hours ago

Tesla Expands Testing Of ‘Robotaxi’ App

Tesla expands testing of 'Robotaxi' app to employees in Austin, Texas as it prepares for…

3 hours ago