Twitter founder’s first tweet is for sale

A remnant of the internet is for sale. On March 21, 2006, Jack Dorsey tweeted: “I create my Twttr account”. Almost fifteen years later, the Twitter boss auctioned off his very first tweet. Friday March 5, he tweeted a link to the Valuables site, where collectors of digital antiques can bid.

just setting up my twttr

– jack (@jack) March 21, 2006

Buying a tweet means acquiring “a digital certificate of the tweet, unique because it was signed and verified by the creator”, like an autograph, the auction site specifies tweets on its question-and-answer page. The creator of the tweet decides if he wants to issue it on blockchain, the core technology of cryptocurrencies, to create a uniquely authenticated version, the company explains. This tweet becomes an “NFT” (“non-fungible token”), or non-fungible token: a virtual object with indisputable and inviolable identity, authenticity and traceability in theory, thanks to the blockchain. The tweet itself remains visible to everyone, as long as Jack Dorsey or Twitter leaves it online.

In a sign of appetite for these new virtual collectibles, the highest bid for Jack Dorsey’s tweet was $ 2.5 million on Saturday. It was made by Sina Estavi, the boss of Bridge Oracle and Cryptoland, who exploit this technology blockchain. He outbid the offer of Justin Sun, the founder of Tron, a blockchain platform, and the boss of the BitTorrent streaming platform. The “NFT” have been all the rage among collectors for a few months, to the point that the Christie’s house auctioned, at the end of February, for the first time, an entirely digital work sold thanks to this technology.