British telecommunications giant Vodafone is reportedly planning to auction the world's first short message service (SMS) in the form of a non-fungible token (NFT) on December 21. The SMS, which says "Merry Christmas", was sent 29 years ago during the Vodafone network on December 3, 1992 and was received by Richard Jarvis, an employee at the time.
The historic 15-character SMS will be auctioned as NFT in a one-time sale by Aguttes Auction House in France. according to the Romanian news outlet Ziarul Financiar.
By auctioning the world's first SMS in the form of NFT, Vodafone intends to redirect the proceeds to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (the UN Refugee Agency) to help forcibly displaced people.
The banner ad above translates to "Merry Christmas. The world's first SMS auctioned for charity as NFT." Vodafone's SMS NFT sale will take place this Tuesday, December 21 through an online auction in which participants can bid using Ethereum (ETH). The highest bidder will be the exclusive owner of the communication protocol that was used to transmit the world's first SMS.
In addition to the glory of SMS, it took nine years for other networks to have Vodafone's ability to transmit and receive SMS. This move to coin the world's first SMS is another example of NFT's ability to tokenize and digitally preserve history.
Related: Adidas Originals to launch their debut NFT collection
The NFT ecosystem has catalyzed the widespread adoption of cryptocurrencies as corporations find their use cases within their existing business models. Last week, sportswear manufacturer Adidas announced the launch of an "Into the Metaverse" NFT collection.
As Cointelegraph reported, the Adidas Originals NFT sale will be hosted on the company's official website on December 17 at a price of 0.2 ETH, roughly worth $ 810 at the time of writing.
Just days before Adidas's entry, Nike also acquired a virtual sneaker and collectibles brand RTFKT, signaling a strong interest in the metaverse.
RTFKT is now part of the NIKE, Inc. family pic.twitter.com/5egNk9d8wA
- RTFKT Studios (@RTFKTstudios) December 13, 2021
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