By Shelly Melancon (Switzerland)
Non-Fungible tokens have come to stay. First, it was Jack Dorsey who sold his first ever tweet as an NFT and pocketed a few millions of dollars and now it’s the work of the legendary Edward Snowden.
The computer scientist who became popular after pulling the plug on NSA in 2013 bagged over $5.4 million at an auction on Foundation, a platform that hosts the sales of NFT. The payment was made with Ethereum.
‘Stay Free’ is an artwork showing the American who exiled himself and now stays in Russia with his hand on his chin and court papers around. This becomes one of the most expensive NFTs till date as so many celebs have sold their works for millions of dollars in the form of NFT.
What Will The Proceeds be Used For?
All the money will go to charity according to Edward Snowden. The entire 2,224 Ethereum will go to Freedom of the Press Foundation, a non-governmental that was founded in 2012 where Snowden himself is president and a member of the board of directors. The organisation advocates for free speech in the world as they track press freedom as well as developing tools for encryption.
It was quite a bidding war among the potential buyers as it was not clear who had won the auction. It finally sold at 2,224 Ethereum. The username of the buyer was @PleasrDAO.
Also read:Edward Snowden, who was formerly contracted to the CIA exposed some classified documents to journalists after he left his job at the NSA and flew to Hong Kong. He became internationally known when his leaks made it to prominent news carriers like The Guardian and The Washington Post. Snowden said he made these leaks after his complaints to the NSA fell on deaf ears.
To some Americans, he is a traitor, while to some, a national hero. The US government officials blamed him for causing grave damage to the US and undermining his country of birth. He was charged with theft of government property and violating the espionage act of 1917 and had his passport revoked by the State Department. He has since been granted permanent residency in Russia after a series of extensions to his initial one year residency.
Edward Snowden became president of the Freedom of The Press Foundation in 2016. The organisations main aim is to protect journalists from government surveillance and hacking.
His recently sold NFT has put Edward Snowden back in the limelight as he has lived a relatively quiet life in Russia. The piece of art is loosely based on a photo by a visual artist known as Platon. The former Dell employee signed the NFT with his Hancock.
NFTs are becoming increasingly popular as just over a week ago, pro wrestling company WWE revealed its plans to sell Undertaker NFTs.
In a similar vein, Triller has made announcements concerning joining the NFT fever. They intend to sell Jake Paul’s KO punch on Nate Robinson in an event hosted by Triller in Los Angeles, California.
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