The first text message in history, which was sent via the British telecommunications company "Vodafone" on December 3, 1992, is set to be auctioned on Tuesday using NFT technology to verify digital authenticity, during a public auction held by the "Agut" house in France. The message received by Richard Jarvis, a collaborator with Vodafone during the Christmas period, consists of 15 characters and contains the phrase "Merry Christmas."
The buyer, who may pay for the message with cryptocurrency, will become the exclusive owner of a unique digital version of the communication protocol through which the world's first SMS was sent. Vodafone indicated that the proceeds from the auction will benefit the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
Once relatively unknown, NFT technology has become a key driver in the global auction market, providing a document that certifies the digital authenticity of a virtual or real product within an immutable system based on blockchain technology, which also records transactions in cryptocurrency. An NFT certificate is unique and cannot be exchanged for an equivalent, which is why it is called "non-fungible tokens."
The prices of digital documents certified by NFT technology have reached millions of dollars at auctions, starting from the record price achieved by American artist Beeple for a digital work using this technology, which reached $69.3 million during an auction at Christie's in March.
