The first SMS in history, transmitted by the operator Vodafone on December 3, 1992, is auctioned on Tuesday December 21, in the form of NFT, these certified digital goods that are shaking up the cultural market. The Aguttes house, in Neuilly-sur-Seine, is hosting this sale.
Received at the time by Richard Jarvis, collaborator of Vodafone, during the Christmas holidays, the SMS is composed of fifteen characters: “Merry Christmas” (” Merry Christmas “).
The future buyer, who will be able to make his payment in cryptocurrency, will become the exclusive owner of a digital and unique replica of the original communication protocol that transmitted the world’s first SMS.
The operator Vodafone explained that he would donate the proceeds of the sale to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
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The art market’s new goose that lays golden eggs
Almost unknown a year ago, NFTs are presented as a certificate of authenticity for an object, virtual or real, based on blockchain technology, a tamper-proof system that also authenticates cryptocurrency exchange transactions.
An NFT is unique and cannot be exchanged for an equivalent, hence its name: non-fungible token (“Non-fungible token”).
They 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 million dollars – the record going to a work entirely. digital digital artist Beeple, sold for $ 69.3 million in March at Christie’s.