I never thought I’d see the day when serious money was bid for… well, nothing really! But in a way that is exactly what we have been seeing over the past few weeks with something called NFT and now with a Tweet.
Pulling value out of thin air really started when the digital space became sophisticated enough to mimic (to a degree) the real world. Most obviously, Bitcoin led the way here, and we now see single units changing hands for astronomical sums. But Bitcoin isn’t linked to any tangible asset, it’s really just an idea, or rather a common agreement that the idea has real value and creates a means of trading value. What happens when confidence wains? Does the house of cards come tumbling down?
NFT (Non Fungible Tokens) allow artists to sell a work of art in the digital space by issuing single units of digital code from hundreds of thousands that, placed together, make up the digital artwork. Controlled through blockchain – and so supposedly protected from fraud – it allows ordinary members of the public to invest modestly in extraordinary artworks at the highest level, while bringing the artist a large amount of money and a small commission on the resale of each NFT.
Again, though, to me what the buyer owns is little more than an idea.
Now we have news of the sale of the first Tweet ever posted by Jack Dorsey, founder of Twitter. It’s 15 years old and reads: “just setting up my twttr.” No doubt it’s an historic post, and bidding has reached $600,000 for the NFT of its unique digital signature.
I’m sure it’s all very exciting but I can’t help feeling more comfortable with bids for a solid bit of oak or maybe a decent daub in a nice frame.
