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Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey (archive picture): Proceeds go to Africa
Photo: Anushree Fadnavis / REUTERS
So-called NFTs are currently very much in vogue.
The non-fungible tokens are not even copy-protected works.
To put it simply, they are entries on the counterfeit-proof Ethereum blockchain.
These entries tell who (more precisely: which Ethereum address) the "original copy" of a work belongs to.
Now another NFT has brought in a lot of money.
The digital copy of the very first tweet sold for a good $ 2.9 million.
The highest bidder, a software entrepreneur from Malaysia, only acquired a kind of electronic certificate of authenticity.
The Twitter co-founder and current company boss Jack Dorsey, who auctioned the tweet copy, donated exactly $ 2,915,835.47 (around 2.45 million euros) on Monday (local time) to an organization that supports poor people in Africa.
On March 21, 2006, Dorsey wrote "just setting up my twttr" (something like "I'm setting up my twttr", as the platform was originally supposed to be called).
It's the oldest message available on Twitter.
The blockchain is basically a database that stores all transactions with a digital item and is distributed across many computers in the network, which makes it forgery-proof.
The highest bidder, Sina Estavi, runs Bridge Oracle, which is in the blockchain business.
Compared to other NFTs, the proceeds for the tweet are almost a little puny.
Recently, for example, a copy of a collage by digital artist Beeple was auctioned for a good $ 69.3 million.
That's a record for digital art.
Again, the buyer only acquired a digital certificate of authenticity - anyone can have an identical copy of the work of art.
The artist Grimes had sold hundreds of hyperkitschy cyberbaby pictures, some with musical accompaniment, and bagged 5.8 million dollars for them in 20 minutes.
jok / dpa
