Elon Musk turns down $1 million offer to buy his tweet as an NFT

Elon Musk, founder and chief engineer of SpaceX speaks at the 2020 Satellite Convention and Exhibition March 9, 2020 in Washington, DC.

Win McNamee | Getty Visuals

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk withdrew the provide to provide one particular of his tweets as a non-fungible token (or NFT) on Tuesday, even although a bidder experienced presented far more than $1 million for the electronic asset.

Musk explained on Monday in a tweet, “I’m advertising this tune about NFTs as an NFT.” The social media put up he place up for sale included a music with the lyrics: “NFT for your vainness. Desktops under no circumstances rest. It is really verified. It is really assured.”

The tweet-for-sale also contained a shorter video loop, which portrayed a trophy labeled “Self-importance Trophy” with the expression “NFT” at the top rated, and “HODL” throughout the bottom. HODL is a cheer made use of by cryptocurrency admirers and retail buyers to encourage friends to hold onto a coin or shares in a organization, fairly than sell.

On Tuesday, Musk adjusted his tune, declaring in a tweet: “Really would not experience very ideal promoting this. Will pass.”

NFTs are distinctive crypto tokens used to signify electronic assets, including images and video clips. They can be purchased and bought like bodily collectibles. NFTs operate on a decentralized digital ledger, or blockchain, which means that transactions, ownership and validity of any asset that an NFT represents can be tracked.

Musk’s tweet, such as his caption, video and music, was listed for sale as an NFT on “Valuables,” a system introduced by Cent, the social media network crafted on blockchain. According to Valuables, the greatest previous bid on the Musk tweet was $1,121,000, from a Twitter user with the manage @SinaEstavi.

The experimental CEO has been identified for his endorsement of digital property of late, such as bitcoin, Dogecoin and now NFTs. In February, Tesla uncovered it obtained $1.5 billion in bitcoin and could possibly continue on to make cryptocurrency acquisitions.

Musk’s passionate lover, a musician identified as Grimes, also bought all over $6 million well worth of her electronic artwork just after putting them up for auction in the latest weeks.

His excitement-generating NFT offer you on Monday helped Musk distract his tens of millions of followers on Twitter from information of personnel alterations in the major ranks of Tesla and a federal probe into a Tesla crash that took location in Detroit late very last 7 days.

On Monday, fiscal filings revealed that former Tesla Automotive President Jerome Guillen would be vacating that job to come to be Tesla’s president of Major Trucking, as an alternative. Tesla has not still declared a successor to Guillen for the position of president of Automotive.

On the very same working day, the federal vehicle protection authority, NHTSA, mentioned it would be sending a group to Detroit to look into the underlying brings about of a “violent” crash that occurred there on March 11 involving a Tesla sedan and a semi-truck. The investigation is now underway.

In recent months, the U.S. Securities and Trade Commission has warned investors towards shopping for or selling shares and other property primarily based on info shared on social media. The financial regulator has also warned investors in opposition to obtaining shares in SPACs, or other property, just mainly because of celeb involvement in the deal.

— CNBC Make It reporter Taylor Locke contributed to this tale.