Jack Dorsey puts his first tweet 'just setting up my twttr' up for auction: Chinese cryptocurrency mogul Justin Sun bids $2MILLION for CEO's most famous post

  • Dorsey put his 'just setting up my twttr' tweet from 2006 on 'Valuables by Cent'
  • It is a Twitter marketplace that sells posts as non-fungible tokens (NFTs)
  • r Justin Sun was the highest bidder with $2million as of Saturday morning 
  • Old offers for the tweet suggest that it was put for sale in December 
  • But the listing gained more attention after Dorsey's tweet on Friday 

'just setting up my twttr' - the first ever tweet on the platform is up for sale after Twitter boss Jack Dorsey listed his famous post as a unique digital signature on a website for selling tweets as non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

Chinese cryptocurrency entrepreneur Justin Sun was the highest bidder with $2million as of Saturday morning, Bloomberg reported.

Sun also recently won a charity bid to have dinner with Warren Buffett. 

The post, sent from Dorsey's account in March of 2006, received offers on Friday that went as high as $88,888.88 within minutes of the Twitter co-founder tweeting a link to the listing on 'Valuables by Cent' - a tweets marketplace.

Old offers for the tweet suggest that it was put for sale in December, but the listing gained more attention after Dorsey's tweet on Friday.

NFTs are digital files that serve as digital signatures to certify who owns photos, videos and other online media.

'just setting up my twttr' - the first ever tweet on the platform is up for sale after Twitter boss Jack Dorsey listed his famous post as a unique digital signature on a website for selling tweets as non-fungible tokens (NFTs)

'just setting up my twttr' - the first ever tweet on the platform is up for sale after Twitter boss Jack Dorsey listed his famous post as a unique digital signature on a website for selling tweets as non-fungible tokens (NFTs)

The post, sent from Dorsey's account in March of 2006, received offers on Friday that went as high as $88,888.88 within minutes of the Twitter co-founder tweeting a link to the listing on 'Valuables by Cent' - a tweets marketplace

The post, sent from Dorsey's account in March of 2006, received offers on Friday that went as high as $88,888.88 within minutes of the Twitter co-founder tweeting a link to the listing on 'Valuables by Cent' - a tweets marketplace

Dorsey's 15-year old tweet is one of the most famous tweets ever on the platform and could attract bidders to pay a high price for the digital memorabilia. The highest bid for the tweet stood at $100,000 at 0125 GMT on Saturday.

Launched three months ago, Valuables compares the buying of tweets with buying an autographed baseball card. 'There is only one unique signed version of the tweet, and if the creator agrees to sell, you can own it forever.'

A tweet's buyer will get an autographed digital certificate, signed using cryptography, that will include metadata of the original tweet, according to the Valuables website. The tweet will continue to be available on the Twitter website.

Non-Fungible Tokens (NFT) are a unique digital token encrypted with the artist's signature and which verifies its ownership and authenticity and is permanently attached to the piece.

NFTs, sometimes pronounced 'nifties', are similar to cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum in that they live on blockchain networks - a decentralized, distributed ledger that records transactions of digital assets. 

But unlike traditional cryptocurrencies, NFTs are non-fungible, meaning that one cannot be exchanged for another. The digital assets have collectors value, and can represent items including still images, GIFs, videos, music and more.    

Chinese cryptocurrency entrepreneur Justin Sun was the highest bidder with $2million as of Saturday morning, Bloomberg reported. Sun also recently won a charity bid to have dinner with Warren Buffett

Chinese cryptocurrency entrepreneur Justin Sun was the highest bidder with $2million as of Saturday morning, Bloomberg reported. Sun also recently won a charity bid to have dinner with Warren Buffett

While NFTs have been around for years, their popularity has grown rapidly in recent weeks thanks to a few sales with very high price tags. 

In the past seven days alone, NFTs have generated $45.2million in sales - while grabbing attention from top investors including Mark Cuban.  

Since February 14, an artist named Pest Supply has netted more than $1million auctioning off his NFTs featuring Banksy-style graffiti, including one piece that sold for 60 Ethereum coins (ETH), or about $100,000. 

On February 19, a one-of-a-kind digital rendition of the Nyan Cat meme sold for 300 ETH, or about $590,000, in an online auction. 

Two weeks ago a man paid $208,000 for a NFT with a clip of LeBron James dunking through an auction by NBA Top Shot, which mints basketball highlights into NFTs. 

A whole new venue for NFT sales opened last month when Christie's became the first major auction house to put up a piece of digital artwork carrying a token. 

The piece entitled 'Everydays - The First 5000 Days' comprises all of the works that an American digital artist known as Beeple has made over the course of 13 years.  

A whole new venue for NFT sales opened last month when Christie's became the first major auction house to put up a piece of digital artwork carrying a token. The piece entitled 'Everydays - The First 5000 Days' (pictured) comprises all of the works that an American digital artist known as Beeple has made over the course of 13 years

A whole new venue for NFT sales opened last month when Christie's became the first major auction house to put up a piece of digital artwork carrying a token. The piece entitled 'Everydays - The First 5000 Days' (pictured) comprises all of the works that an American digital artist known as Beeple has made over the course of 13 years

What are NFTs?  

What is a NFT?

A Non-Fungible Token (NFT) is a unique digital token encrypted with an artist's signature and which verifies its ownership and authenticity and is permanently attached to the piece.

What do they look like?

Most NFTs include some kind digital artwork, such as photos, videos, GIFs, and music. Theoretically, anything digital could be turned into a NFT.  

Where do you buy them?

At the moment, NFTs are most commonly sold in so-called 'drops', timed online sales by blockchain-backed marketplaces like Nifty Gateway, Opensea and Rarible.

Why would I want to own one? 

There's an array of reasons why someone may want to buy a NFT. For some, the reason may be emotional value, because NFTs are seen as collectors items. For others, they are seen as an investment opportunity similar to cryptocurrencies, because the value could increase.  

When were NFTs created? 

Writer and podcaster Andrew Steinwold traced the origins of NFTs back to 2012, with the creation of the Colored Coins cryptocurrency. But NFTs didn't move into the mainstream until five years later, when the blockchain game CryptoKitties began selling virtual cats in 2017.  

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