First text message ever sent to be auctioned off as a digital asset

Wed, 15 Dec, 2021 - 11:29

Steven Heaney

The first SMS message ever sent is set to be auctioned for charity next week.

The text, sent to Vodafone employee Richard Jarvis on December 2, 1992, is being auctioned as a non-fungible token (NFT) via Augettes Auction House in France.

NFTs are essentially forgery-proof digital certificates of ownership of digital assets.

Those bidding on the SMS at the auction will be required to pay through the Ethereum cryptocurrency. Once the auction has closed, the winning bidder will gain exclusive ownership of a unique replica of the original code that transmitted the world’s first text.

NFTs are most often housed in digital wallets through blockchain technology — a system akin to a sort of shared database or ledger.

As for the contents of the message itself, it simply read: “Merry Christmas”.

Refugees benefit

Estimates suggest the text could sell for anything between €100,000 and €200,000, with all of the proceeds going to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which helps to support forcibly displaced individuals worldwide.

“With this auction, we are bringing together the pioneering spirit of two centuries. We immortalise the world's first SMS on the blockchain. And auction off its good news as NFT for a good cause," said Vodafone Germany CEO Hannes Ametsreiter.

Mr Ametsreiter said the transmission of the short text message nearly three decades ago, was "a decisive moment in the history of mobile communications technology".

"Today, greetings for Christmas, Hanukkah, Eid, and many other holidays are sent by billions of people around the world in the form of texts, videos, audio messages, and emojis," he said.

"Without the very first 'Merry Christmas' sent to a cell phone, our world would be less connected today."

The auction will take place on Augettes Auction House's Instagram on December 21.