Twitter founder Jack Dorsey’s first-ever tweet was sold as a non-fungible token (NFT) for $2.9 million (roughly Rs. 22 crore) last year. In a fresh update, the same NFT gathered the highest bid at a shockingly small amount of $280 (roughly Rs. 21,000) earlier this week after its holder Sina Estavi listed it for a re-sale. The incident has sent shockwaves among members of the NFT community. NFTs are digital collectibles built and supported on the blockchain. The values of NFTs can differ according to the inspiration it is derived from, which could be a game character, music, films, actors, and artists among others.
Estavi, who last purchased the tweet NFT in March 2021, listed it for re-sale for $48 million (roughly Rs. 365 crore) last week on OpenSea NFT marketplace.
The Iran-born crypto entrepreneur had also pledged 50 percent of the proceeds he made via re-selling Dorsey’s tweet NFT to a charity called Give Directly.
To Estavi’s utter horror, his priced NFT saw only seven bidders lining up, out of which, the highest bidder purchased it for $280 (roughly Rs. 21,000). The lowest bidding was recorded at ETH 0.0019 (roughly Rs. 448).
The incident has raised questions around the legibility of NFTs as an asset class.
Sina Estavi bought Twitter founder Jack Dorsey’s first tweet as an NFT for $2.9 million last year.
He listed the NFT for sale again at $48 million.
It ended with a top bid of just $280 :cold_face:
Are NFTs smoke and mirrors or an investment? :man-shrugging: https://t.co/dNfwTbK7Ci
— Nigel D’Souza (@Nigel__DSouza) April 14, 2022
#JackDorsey @jack‘s first #tweet was sold as an #NFT for $2.9M in 2021. Now the top bid for it is only $280:thinking_face:.
If you’re in the market only for the fast money, there’s a high chance that you’ll end up losing:sweat:.
:mag_right:Doing your own research before blindly taking actions! pic.twitter.com/khKYniTL43— AAX (@AAXExchange) April 14, 2022
While the deadline of this NFT auction passed without Estavi getting a chance to rope in any funds via its sale.
“The deadline I set was over, but if I get a good offer, I might accept it, I might never sell it,” CoinDesk quoted Estavi as saying.
At this point, Estavi’s reputation in the crypto market is pretty stained after two failed cryptocurrency ventures and nine months in prison.
The ‘cryptopreneur’ was arrested in May 2021 in Iran, on charges of “disrupting the economic system”.
Estavi’s CryptoLand exchange collapsed, leaving users unable to access their funds. In addition, the price of his Bridge Oracle project’s BRG token also sunk to its current price of $0.06031 (roughly Rs. 4.5), as per CoinMarketCap. This backdrop is being counted among reasons why his potential big sale failed to fare well among investors.