On the nonfungible token marketplace OpenSea, a copy of the first-ever tweet — by Twitter Inc. co-founder Jack Dorsey — has been offered for about $48 million, 16 times what the owner paid for it a year ago.
Sina Estavi, the CEO of Malaysian blockchain firm Bridge Oracle, stated on Twitter that he’s selling the NFT version of the March 21, 2006 tweet “just setting up my twttr” for 14,969 Ether. In March of last year, he paid $2.9 million for it.
Following his initial tweet announcing the sale, Estavi followed up with another offering to contribute half of the money to GiveDirectly, a charity that provides cash to people living in poverty and which Dorsey had previously stated he supported following the first sale of the NFT.
“Why not 99 percent of it?” Dorsey responded on Twitter. He addressed his reaction to Estavi, GiveDirectly, and Elon Musk, the creator of Tesla Inc. (and a recent Twitter board member).
On Monday, Twitter’s stock jumped 27% when it was revealed that Musk had purchased a 9.2% interest in the firm. A day later, he was named to Twitter’s board of directors. In November, Dorsey resigned as Twitter’s CEO.