Where Did the 3.5 Billion Won Value of Jack Dorsey's First Tweet NFT Go After Its Price Plummeted?

Jack Dorsey Twitter Founder
Photo by Reuters Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Hyunjin] The value of the non-fungible token (NFT) created from the first tweet ever posted by Twitter founder Jack Dorsey has plummeted from $2.9 million (approximately 3.56 billion KRW) to around $10,000 in just one year.

According to CNBC and other outlets on the 14th (local time), cryptocurrency entrepreneur Sina Estavi posted on the NFT trading platform OpenSea on the 6th that he is selling the first tweet NFT he purchased last March. Estavi set a target price of $4.8 million, but the highest current bid on OpenSea is only $10,244, which is just 0.35% of the original purchase price. Initially, the auction ended on the 13th at $280, which was first reported by CoinDesk and others, but subsequent bids have continued, pushing the current price above $10,000.

Estavi told CoinDesk, "The deadline I set has passed, but if there is a better offer, I will accept it," indicating he is waiting for additional bids. He also tweeted on the day news broke about Tesla CEO Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter, saying, "Elon might buy this."

Earlier, Estavi posted on his Twitter account last month, "(The first tweet NFT) is not just a simple tweet," adding, "Years from now, people will realize the true value of this tweet, like the Mona Lisa painting." Estavi also revealed that half of the proceeds from this auction will be donated to charity.

The reason the first tweet NFT has become so cheap in just one year seems to be due to significant skepticism about its value. In theory, NFTs are created by assigning unique identifiers to digital assets using blockchain technology, but in the case of the first tweet NFT, the original tweet still remains on Twitter, and since Dorsey, the founder, can delete it or issue additional NFTs, there is doubt about whether the NFT itself holds intrinsic value.

Additionally, the sharp decline in interest in the NFT market is believed to have had an impact. According to market research firm NonFungible, NFT sales grew rapidly from $82 million in 2020 to $17.7 billion last year. The average NFT price also jumped from $49.18 in 2020 to $807.52 last year. However, since the beginning of this year, the NFT market has been in decline, with average daily sales last month dropping 83% compared to the end of January, and the average price falling from a peak of $6,200 to $2,000.