<p>Twitter boss Jack Dorsey is selling his first tweet at auction, with bidding Saturday reaching $2 million in a sign of the appetite for virtual objects authenticated through blockchain technology.</p>.<p>"just setting up my twttr," Dorsey tweeted on March 21, 2006.</p>.<p>On Friday he posted a link to "Valuables @Cent," an online marketplace for tweets where, the site says, investors or collectors can "buy and sell tweets autographed by their creators."</p>.<p>The top bid Saturday for Dorsey's tweet -- $2 million -- came from Justin Sun, the founder of TRON, a platform for blockchain, the technology underlying cryptocurrencies. He also heads the BitTorrent streaming platform.</p>.<p>"The creator of a tweet decides if they would like to mint it on the blockchain, creating a 1-of-1 autographed version," Valuables explains.</p>.<p>Buying a tweet means purchasing "a digital certificate of the tweet, unique because it has been signed and verified by the creator," according to Valuables.</p>.<p>In Dorsey's case, the tweet itself remains visible to all, so long as he and Twitter leave it online.</p>.<p>The approach is much like the online sales of dramatic digital "moments" from National Basketball Association games; the short video sequences remain visible for free on the internet but a blockchain-backed "Non-Fungible Token" (NFT) is generated to guarantee the identity, authenticity and traceability of the video, confirming its value.</p>.<p>Thus, a 10-second clip showing a spectacular sequence by basketball superstar LeBron James fetched $208,000 on the NBA Top Shot site late last month.</p>.<p>Top Shot has generated more than $200 million in transactions this year, according to Dapper Labs, which partnered with the NBA to create Top Shot.</p>.<p>In 2019, Sun paid $4.6 million in a winning bid to lunch with iconic billionaire Warren Buffett. Sun reportedly tried but failed to convince the elderly investor of the value of bitcoins.</p>.<p>NFTs have soared in popularity, to the point that prestigious auction house Christie's last month sold an entirely digital artwork.</p>
<p>Twitter boss Jack Dorsey is selling his first tweet at auction, with bidding Saturday reaching $2 million in a sign of the appetite for virtual objects authenticated through blockchain technology.</p>.<p>"just setting up my twttr," Dorsey tweeted on March 21, 2006.</p>.<p>On Friday he posted a link to "Valuables @Cent," an online marketplace for tweets where, the site says, investors or collectors can "buy and sell tweets autographed by their creators."</p>.<p>The top bid Saturday for Dorsey's tweet -- $2 million -- came from Justin Sun, the founder of TRON, a platform for blockchain, the technology underlying cryptocurrencies. He also heads the BitTorrent streaming platform.</p>.<p>"The creator of a tweet decides if they would like to mint it on the blockchain, creating a 1-of-1 autographed version," Valuables explains.</p>.<p>Buying a tweet means purchasing "a digital certificate of the tweet, unique because it has been signed and verified by the creator," according to Valuables.</p>.<p>In Dorsey's case, the tweet itself remains visible to all, so long as he and Twitter leave it online.</p>.<p>The approach is much like the online sales of dramatic digital "moments" from National Basketball Association games; the short video sequences remain visible for free on the internet but a blockchain-backed "Non-Fungible Token" (NFT) is generated to guarantee the identity, authenticity and traceability of the video, confirming its value.</p>.<p>Thus, a 10-second clip showing a spectacular sequence by basketball superstar LeBron James fetched $208,000 on the NBA Top Shot site late last month.</p>.<p>Top Shot has generated more than $200 million in transactions this year, according to Dapper Labs, which partnered with the NBA to create Top Shot.</p>.<p>In 2019, Sun paid $4.6 million in a winning bid to lunch with iconic billionaire Warren Buffett. Sun reportedly tried but failed to convince the elderly investor of the value of bitcoins.</p>.<p>NFTs have soared in popularity, to the point that prestigious auction house Christie's last month sold an entirely digital artwork.</p>