NFT auction of first-ever Tweet enters final day

The bidding war over a non-fungible token (NFT) of the first-ever Tweet sent on the micro-blogging platform by its founder and CEO Jack Dorsey has entered its final day, with the leading bid currently at a massive US$2.5mln. The auction of the NFT token version of the Tweet, which was posted by Dorsey in March 2006 when Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) was created, has been held at the US$2.5mln for two weeks on the NFT platform Valuables after it was minted in December last year. just setting up my twttr — jack (@jack) March 21, 2006 Earlier in March, Dorsey drew attention to the NFT version of the Tweet, sparking a brief but frantic bidding war between Justin Sun, the founder and chief executive of file-sharing platform BitTorrent, and Sina Estavi, CEO of blockchain technology firm Bridge Oracle. Dorsey said on Sunday that any proceeds of the auction will be converted into Bitcoin and donated to GiveDirectly, a non-profit that aims to directly transfer cash to low-income people. The Twitter boss added that the donation would focus on coronavirus (COVID-19) relief efforts in Africa. Ending this March 21st Will immediately convert proceeds to #Bitcoin And send to @GiveDirectly Africa Response — jack (@jack) March 9, 2021 Dorsey is not the first celebrity to cash in on the NFT craze, with multiple artists and celebrities having offered up various creations, ranging from paintings and videos to tweets, as NFTs at auction, some of which have been sold for eye-watering amounts. A few weeks ago, musician Grimes auctioned off a series of ten pieces of digital artworks as NFTs for around US$6mln, while last year the digital artist known as Beeple sold around US$3.5mln worth of art as NFTs. READ: Tony Hawk puts final Ollie 540 skateboard trick up for auction as NFT Last week, skateboarding legend Tony Hawk also announced that he will sell a video of the moment he made his final 540-degree ollie trick in the digital format. NFTs function effectively as digital, blockchain-based certificates of authenticity for a piece of art or other creative work, allowing the owner of the NFT to claim ownership of the original creation even if it has been copied. READ: Non-fungible tokens: What are they and why are they the hot new crypto asset? Shares in Twitter were up 0.7% at US$66.68 in pre-market trading in New York on Monday.