In the age of unlimited SMS now included in our mobile plans, here’s one that has cost a fortune. The operator Verizon contributes to a good cause, while immortalizing a milestone in the history of telecommunications.
132,680 euros is the cost recently spent for an SMS. It may seem unlikely in the age of unlimited SMS built into mobile plans. Except it’s not just any text message. In fact, this is the first SMS sent to the world, on December 3, 1992, from engineer Neil Papworth to his colleague Richard Jarvis. Having gone through the Vodafone network, the message simply said “Merry Christmas” (“Joyeux Noël in French). Immortalized in the form of NFT, that is to say a digital asset protected by the blockchain, this SMS found a buyer on December 21, 2021, after 32 minutes of auction Under the leadership of Me Claude Aguttes, it was acquired by a Canadian telecommunications professional.
“At first it was just an idea. This idea turned into a veritable sum of money in the service of a good cause. We’ve partnered with cryptocurrency experts and programmers, as well as professionals from the auction world. We investigated the Vodafone archives and interviewed witnesses to this story, that of the sending and receiving of the first SMS in history. Our team worked hard to get a good result this afternoon. The world’s first SMS sold as NFT. To help and support a good cause “says Hannes Ametsreiter, CEO of Vodafone. In fact, the telecommunications operator has decided to donate the proceeds of the sale to the United Nations Agency for Refugees.
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