PARIS: The first SMS ever sent over a mobile phone in 1992 was sold Tuesday as an NFT at auction for 107,000 euros ($120,600), the Aguttes auction house said.
The buyer, whose identity was not disclosed but is a Canadian involved in the tech sector, is now the owner of a unique digital replica of the first SMS message in the form of a Non-Fungible Token, or NFT.
The first SMS was a 15-character message sent to Vodafone employee Richard Jarvis wishing him "Merry Christmas".
NFTs are digital items that can be bought and sold using blockchain technology. They have become immensely popular for collectors, including artwork which sold for nearly $70 million at auction earlier this year.
Among those in the auction hall was 18-year-old blockchain entrepreneur Luigi Caradonna, who bowed out of bidding when the price rose above 75,000 euros.
"I thought it would be interesting to have this piece of history to hold it as an asset until next year and to sell it next Christmas," he told AFP.
Mobile network operator Vodafone has said it plans to donate its proceeds from the sale to the UN´s refugee agency.
Scientists think that ice giant's weakness of belts is connected to its magnetic field
European space officials declare Ariane 6 maiden trip a success despite encountering a glitch
WhatsApp's new feature has already started rolling out globally and will be available to all users in coming weeks
Black hole has mass equivalent to two billion suns, feeds on surrounding matter
Platform also deletes over 20 million accounts suspected of belonging to individuals under the age of 13
Millisecond pulsar spins hundreds of times per second, is first of its kind found in Glimpse-C01 star cluster