What are non-fungible tokens and how is Jack Dorsey using it to sell his first ever Twitter post?

The first post Twitter boss Jack Dorsey ever made on the social media platform is up for sale — if you can figure out a reason to buy it.

The first post multi-billionaire Twitter boss Jack Dorsey made on the platform he would eventually lead is up for sale, already attracting offers eclipsing $3.2 million, even though you can see it below for free as you could have for the past 15 years.

just setting up my twttr

— jack (@jack) March 21, 2006

It’s one of the first tweets that was ever sent, a few months before the platform had publicly launched.

Now it’s being sold as something called a non-fungible token (NFT), which we’ll get to in a second.

https://t.co/xCnWG9EqgD

— jack (@jack) March 6, 2021

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey testifying to a US Congressional hearing on Section 230. Picture: Greg Nash / AFP

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The tweet is being sold on a website called “Valuables”, whose “FAQ” is a Google Docs page, where it explains why exactly you would pay money for a tweet, which will still remain on Twitter until Mr Dorsey or the platform he’s CEO of deletes it.

“What you are purchasing is a digital certificate of the tweet, unique because it has been signed and verified by the creator,” Valuables explains in the Google Docs form.

A headline at the bottom of the page understandably titled “Still Confused?” directs people to get in contact with the Cent network for further information.

News.com.au actually reached out to Cent with a few basic questions about whatever it is they’re doing via email 12 days ago, but is yet to receive any response, so the Google Docs form will have to suffice for now.

In it Cent describes the tweets as having value “like an autograph on a baseball card”.

“The NFT itself is the creator’s autograph on the content, making it scarce, unique, and valuable,” Cent claims.

They are not the only one that thinks there’s value in it.

On Saturday afternoon, the highest bid for the tweet was at $US242,000 ($A314,820).

By Monday morning, BridgeOracle and Cryptoland CEO Sina Estavi had offered $US2.5 million.

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A pensive Jack Dorsey approximating the expression of this reporter trying to figure out why people would buy one of his tweets. Picture: Jim Watson / AFP

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All Mr Dorsey has to do now is log into his profile, accept the offer and sign the tweet (whether the multi-billionaire ever does this remains to be seen).

If he does accept the offer he’ll be paid in the Ethereum cryptocurrency, which uses the same technology as the non-fungible token used to “sign” the tweet.

“You should do your own research on how cryptocurrency works,” Cent said.

Mr Dorsey obviously has: His current Twitter bio is simply “#bitcoin”, referencing the more widely known cryptocurrency that recently surged in value, again.

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Ethereum is a cryptocurrency like Bitcoin.

The purpose of buying a tweet, which can only be signed or “minted” once, is supposedly to have it as an investment that will increase in value, though Cent notes in the Google Docs FAQ that the ability to actually resell tweets you’ve bought to cash in on any eventual capital gains is still “coming soon”.

Aside from tweeting the link to bid, it’s not clear whether Mr Dorsey had anything to do with the bidding war over his first tweet, as Coin is accepting “offers on any tweet authored by a public Twitter account”.

This reporter’s public Twitter account can be found at the top of this page, so if you feel like making a lasting contribution to Australian journalism by buying enough tweets for him to retire, he’s willing to finally learn how blockchain works in order to accept your offer.