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TEXXR

Chronicles

The story behind the story

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Jack Dorsey's first tweet sold as an NFT for $2,915,835.47 on a service called Valuables; Dorsey says he sent all proceeds to GiveDirectly's Africa fund as BTC

The winning bidder for the Twitter CEO's first tweet was Sina Estavi  —  After it spent just over two weeks on the market …

The Verge Kim Lyons

Context & Ripple Effects

Dorsey first put the original “just setting up my twttr” post up for auction on Valuables, and bidding had already reached $2.5 million after he promoted it. The completed sale turns that attention into a high-priced test of whether a social-media artifact can trade as a distinct NFT.

The later resale auction provides an important counterpoint: the same token that sold for $2.9 million drew a maximum bid of 2 ETH in 2022. That gap makes the initial sale consequential not just as a charity transfer, but as an early signal of how thin demand for singular digital collectibles can be.

First-order effects

  • Sina Estavi receives the NFT associated with Dorsey’s first tweet, while Dorsey routes the $2,915,835.47 proceeds to GiveDirectly’s Africa fund in BTC.
  • Valuables gains a marquee completed sale after hosting the listing and the $2.5 million bidding run.

Second-order effects

  • The $2.9 million result gives other NFT sellers and auction services a visible reference point for tokenizing culturally recognizable online artifacts, even though it does not establish repeatable resale demand.
  • GiveDirectly receives a bitcoin-denominated donation tied to an NFT transaction, linking the sale’s charitable value to BTC rather than to the token’s subsequent market price.

Third-order effects

  • The subsequent 2 ETH maximum bid suggests that markets for tokenized internet memorabilia can be driven more by a buyer’s willingness to pay at a particular moment than by durable liquidity or a stable valuation benchmark.
  • If that pattern persists, NFT marketplaces will compete less on headline auction prices and more on their ability to attract credible buyers and support secondary trading for one-of-one digital assets.

The trend: NFTs are turning notable digital artifacts into tradable collectibles, while their resale markets expose how unevenly demand translates into lasting value.

Discussion

  • @jack @jack on x
    Sent to @GiveDirectly Africa fund 🌍Thank you, @sinaEstavi. https://twitter.com/...
  • @jayme_poisson Jayme Poisson on x
    The world is making less and less sense to me. https://twitter.com/...
  • @mer__edith Meredith Whittaker on x
    This makes as much sense as Damien Hirst tbh https://twitter.com/...
  • @maxkennerly Max Kennerly on x
    maybe this is not the most productive allocation of resources https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...
  • @dez_blanchfield Dez on x
    Jack Dorsey's ‘first tweet’ NFT sells for $2.9 million Proof that NFTs are simply insane & just down right stupid https://www.engadget.com/...
  • @caseynewton Casey Newton on x
    There is finally a good response to “never tweet.” https://www.theverge.com/...
  • @amonck @amonck on x
    We're all sitting on goldmines here people! https://twitter.com/...
  • @evan_greer Evan Greer on x
    Just sitting here thinking of how many people you could bail out of jail for that amount, or how many months of rent it could pay for homeless families https://twitter.com/...
  • @whatsnext B.L. Ochman on x
    Some people have too much money. https://www.theverge.com/...
  • @harrisj Jacob Harris on x
    I was thinking that tweets are read-only and archived by the LOC and thus more durable than any NFT https://twitter.com/...
  • @lanceulanoff Lance Ulanoff on x
    Crazy days https://twitter.com/...
  • @bruce_arthur Bruce Arthur on x
    Time to tax the rich into a paper sack and ban all crypto until it's environmentally beneficial! https://twitter.com/...
  • @thetattooedprof Kevin Gannon on x
    Time to eat the rich I guess https://twitter.com/...
  • @ivortossell Ivor Tossell on x
    questions include: - who are these people - where does this money come from - is this money real - is my hand real https://twitter.com/...
  • @_vaun Vaun on x
    y'all just be throwing money away. https://twitter.com/...
  • @punished_picnic @punished_picnic on x
    i don't understand what's going on at all any more https://twitter.com/...