First SMS Auction For 107,000 Euros In NFT
The first SMS sent to a cell phone in 1992 was auctioned off Tuesday as NFT for 107,000 euros (120,600 dollars), Aguttes said.
The buyer, whose identity has not been disclosed but is a Canadian active in the tech industry, now owns a unique digital copy of the first SMS message in the form of a non-fungible token, or NFT.
The first SMS was a 15-character message sent to Vodafone employee Richard Jarvis wishing him a “Merry Christmas”.
NFTs are digital items that can be bought and sold using blockchain technology. They have become hugely popular with collectors, including artwork that sold for nearly $70 million at auctions earlier this year.
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In the auction room was the 18-year-old blockchain entrepreneur Luigi Caradonna, who withdrew from the auction at a price of over 75,000 euros.
“I thought it would be interesting to keep this piece of history as an asset until next year and sell it next Christmas,” he told AFP.
The mobile operator Vodafone has announced that it will donate the proceeds from the sale to the United Nations refugee agency.