"What is the meaning of the phrase 'Merry Christmas'... Auction Market 'Stirred'"

British telecommunications company Vodafone announced that it will issue a short message saying 'MERRY CHRISTMAS,' sent in December 1992, as an NFT and put it up for auction.
[Photo by Vodafone Twitter]

[Asia Economy Reporter Sumi Hwang] "MERRY CHRISTMAS (Meri Christmas)"

This message sent 30 years ago ahead of Christmas will be auctioned in Paris, France on the 22nd (local time).

On the 15th, British telecommunications company Vodafone announced via Twitter that it would issue the short message 'MERRY CHRISTMAS' as an NFT and put it up for auction.

Foreign media expect the winning bid to reach about 200 million KRW.

This message was written on a computer by British programmer Neil Papworth on December 3, 1992, and sent to Vodafone director Richard Jarvis for testing purposes.

At the time, Papworth was working as an engineer at Sema Group Telecom, developing Vodafone's Short Message Service (SMS).

This message is recognized as the world's first text message.

According to the British Daily Mail, Papworth later recalled, "I never imagined text messaging would become such a popular service. Looking back, the Christmas message I sent became a turning point in mobile history."

The auction market is already buzzing with the news that Vodafone will issue this one and only message in the world as an NFT based on blockchain technology.

Vodafone stated, "The invention of blockchain and NFTs is comparable to the tremendous progress achieved by text messaging."

They also said that this is the first and last time the world's first text message will be issued as an NFT.

Vodafone plans to donate all proceeds from this auction to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.