The first digital smile, the character set “:-)”, was placed under the hammer. The highest bidder bought the emojis for over $200,000.
The basics in brief
- The first digital smiley face was auctioned in the USA.
- The highest bidder paid over $200,000 for it.
- The initial bid was $1,000.
The first digital smile has been auctioned in the United States for more than $200,000. The initially unknown highest bidder bought the emoji online on Thursday for $237,500 (nearly CHF220,000). This can be seen on the website of Heritage Auctions in Dallas, Texas.
Computer scientist Scott Falman of the University of Pittsburgh first proposed the combination of the letters “:-)” to be used in this context on September 19, 1982—many now consider him the foremost father of the digital smile.
The initial bid for the so-called NFT, which contains the original Fahlman notice on the university’s online bulletin board, was $1,000. An NFT (non-replaceable token) is a type of digital certificate of authenticity: there can be any number of mirrors of an item, but only that can be considered the original.
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