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Twitter founder Jack Dorsey’s first-ever tweet was bought as an NFT by the crypto entrepreneur Sina Estavi for $2.9 million last year. In 2022, Estavi aims to get the NFT sold at $50M or more – as of now – the highest bid he has is for $11,500 (3.8 ETH).
The tweet “just setting up my twttr,” the first post back in 2006, was auctioned off last year by Dorsey for charity.
A Deal Off from the Track
The Malaysia-based entrepreneur Sina Estavi previously bought the NFT for 1630.6 ETH, equivalent to around $2.9M at that time, through an auction. Estavi, who has compared the tweet to Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, put the NFT back on sale in March this year.
Estavi, the founder of the blockchain company Bridge Oracle, offered to donate 50% of the proceeds, which he estimated as $25 million or more, to US charity GiveDirectly.
Later, responding to Dorsey’s challenge of why he wouldn’t donate 99% of the money generated from the NFT auction, said he appreciated the idea, but he would like to use the money to help his blockchain projects and his people. Bridge Oracle has drawn some controversy lately as the founder has been accused by retail investors of committing scams and fraud.
I decided to sell this NFT ( the world’s first ever tweet ) and donate 50% of the proceeds ( $25 million or more ) to the charity @GiveDirectly
🖇 https://t.co/cnv5rtAEBQ pic.twitter.com/yiaZjJt1p0— Estavi (@sinaEstavi) April 6, 2022
Despite Estavi’s claim that someone placed a bid of up to $10 million for the NFT, at the time of writing on Thursday, the highest bid on Opensea is only 3.8 ETH, slightly more than $11,500. Estavi admitted that the deadline he set for the auction had passed, but he may still sell the NFT anyways when a good offer arrives – or he may not even sell it at all.
In an interview with BBC earlier, Estavi didn’t reveal what the price he aimed for was; meanwhile, he touted someone like Elon Musk would be worthy enough to deserve this special NFT.
Estavi Under Pressure
Estavi, arrested in Iran on charges of “disrupting the economic system” last year, has been caught in a series of scandals regarding Bridge Oracle and CryptoLand. Both projects collapsed last year, with investors waiting for Estavi to exchange their old tokens for new ones on the Binance Smart Chain(BSC). The Bridge Oracle Token (BRG) previously ran on the Tron Network.
Estavi wanted the original BRG holders’ phone numbers and some TRX tokens to verify their holdings, so he could send them their new assets later through the BSC chain.
This move, however, only deepened the uncertainties investors felt towards Estavi’s entrepreneurial integrity, as they feared it was nothing but another scam that asked them for money without even setting up the bridge that connects the two base chains.
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