The highest bid was $280 for a Non-Fungible Token (NFT) of Twitter founder Jack Dorsey’s first tweet. Last week, the NFT’s current owner put it up for auction for $48 million. On May 21, 2006, Mr. Dorsey’s first tweet read “just setting up my twittr,” and crypto entrepreneur Sina Estavi purchased it for $2.9 million.
He listed the NFT and promised to donate half of the proceeds to charity.
“I decided to sell this NFT ( the world’s first ever tweet ) and donate 50% of the proceeds ( $25 million or more ) to the charity @GiveDirectly,” Mr Estavi wrote on Twitter on April 7.
However, the GiveDirectly charity will now receive $140, which is half of what Mr Estavi received as a bid for the NFT.
The auction ended on Wednesday, with only seven bids received in total. According to Coindesk, they ranged from 0.09 ETH (Ethereum) to 0.0019 ETH, which is significantly less than Mr Estavi’s estimate of more than 15,987 ETH.
https://twitter.com/sinaEstavi/status/1511832413973983239
They approached Mr Estavi, who responded, “If I get a good offer, I might take it, but I might never sell it.”
The entrepreneur has two days to accept the bid before it expires. NFTs are digital assets that have their ownership recorded on a blockchain. In theory, owning an NFT entitles the holder to ownership and control of the digital asset.
Mr Estavi is the founder of two cryptocurrency companies based in Malaysia. Mr Estavi was arrested in Iran in May of last year on charges of “disrupting the economic system,” according to Coindesk. The arrest took place two months after he purchased the NFT of Dorsey’s tweet.
He was detained for nine months before being released without explanation. Following his arrest, Mr Estavi’s company, Cryptoland, one of Iran’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, shut down.