British telco firm Vodafone reportedly plans to auction off the first Short Message Service (SMS) in the world as a non-fungible token (NFT) on December 21, 2021. The SMS in question reads “Merry Christmas” and was sent 29 years ago over the Vodafone network to an employee named Richard Jarvis.
The historic SMS would be available for bids at the Aguttes Auction House in France. Vodafone stated that the profit gained from the one-off sale will go to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
The banner translates to “Merry Christmas. The world’s first SMS auctioned for charity as NFT” (Source: Ziarul Financiar)
The sale of Vodafone’s SMS NFT will commence on December 21 through an online auction where participants can place their bids with Ether (ETH). The highest bidder will get to become the exclusive owner of the communication protocol used to transmit the world’s first SMS.
It took nine years for other telecom networks to be able to transmit and receive SMS like Vodafone, which adds to the significance of the SMS.
