Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey's 'first-ever' tweet sells as NFT for $ 2.9 million

Twitter’s CEO Jack Dorsey on Monday sold the digital version of his first-ever tweet for a whopping  $2.9 million. His tweet stating “just setting up my twttr” won a bid from Bridge Oracle CEO Sina Estavi, according to Valuables Marketplace. The funds obtained for his tweet sold as a non-fungible token (NFT) were donated to the charity named GiveDirectly, a fundraising NGO for the African subcontinent to tackle the COVID-19 impacts. Dorsey’s tweet was listed with a unique digital signature on the marketplace and was created on March 21, 2006.

"This is not just a tweet! I think years later people will realize the true value of this tweet, like the Mona Lisa painting," Estavi tweeted shortly after making the purchase.

According to multiple reports, Dorsey had put up the NFT for sale on March 5 on the selling platform Valuables by Cents, where buyers get the tweet autographed from the owner, including a certificate to establish the authenticity of the sold tweets. Estavi made the complete payment using the Ether cryptocurrency in the amount of 1630.5825601 ETH for the 15-year-old post. 

Thanking Dorsey for the donations, meanwhile, the NGO Give Directly tweeted: ''Incredible - huge thanks to Jack and Sina Estavi - looking forward to getting this $ into recipients' hands soon’”. Twitter’s CEO announced his plans of selling his first-ever tweet earlier this month as the bidding opened reaching up to $2.5 million on March 6.

However, the official website of the ‘Valuables by Cent’ informed that Dorsey’s tweet first went on sale back in December 2020 but the listing gained public attention after he tweeted the link for it on March 5. The tweet has since been shared thousands of times and within minutes of the tweet being posted, bids had reached more than $88,000. 

Elon Musk turns down NFT offers

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk had also announced that he was selling a tweet 'song' as an NFT. “I’m selling this song about NFTs as an NFT,” Musk, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla wrote in a tweet on March 16. Elon released a techno song with the lyrics: “NFT for your vanity. Computers never sleep. It’s verified. It’s guaranteed.” His video depicted a futuristic loop with a trophy that read ‘Vanity trophy’ alongside the term NFT. However, the Tesla boss, despite getting bid offers of $1.12 million removed NFT from sales saying in a tweet "'Actually, doesn’t feel quite right selling this. Will pass." 

(Image Credit: AP)