NFT: the first SMS in history sold for a fortune at auction

The first SMS in history, sent by the operator Vodafone on December 3, 1992, was auctioned Tuesday, December 21 in the form of NFT for 107,000 euros, during a sale organized by the house Aguttes in France. The buyer, whose detailed identity is not known, is Canadian and works in the new technology sector. He is now the exclusive owner of a unique digital replica of the original communication protocol that transmitted this SMS.

Received at the time by Richard Jarvis, collaborator of Vodafone, the SMS is composed of 15 characters to say “Merry Christmas” (“Joyeux Noël” in French). The operator Vodafone had previously indicated that it would donate the proceeds of the sale to the UNHCR, the United Nations refugee agency, or 107,000 euros less the fees of the sales company.

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The “Non-Fungible Token” (NFT), or in French a “non-fungible token”, is a new type of digital asset, like cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, which uses blockchain technology ( blockchain), an authentication directory shared between a multitude of individuals. An NFT is unique and cannot be exchanged for an equivalent.

Among the participants in the room, Luigi Caradonna, 18, a young entrepreneur who has founded a company using blockchain in the field of video games. He gave up when the auction exceeded 75,000 euros. “I thought it would be interesting to have this piece of history and keep it active until next year, and sell it next Christmas,” he told AFP. .

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The operator Vodafone had indicated that he intended to donate the proceeds of the sale to the UNHCR, the United Nations refugee agency. Almost unknown a year ago, the NFTs represent for some the new goose that lays the golden eggs of the contemporary art market and in a few months have become essential auction houses, reaching prices of several millions of dollars. dollars – the record for an entirely digital work by American artist Beeple with 69.3 million in March at Christie’s.