Crypto entrepreneur Sina Estavi made headlines in March 2021 when he paid $2.9m for an NFT of Twitter boss Jack Dorsey's first tweet. But his efforts to resell it have run aground, with a top bid of just $6,800 as of Thursday.
The initial purchase was at the time among the most expensive sales of a non-fungible token, or NFT, and came amid a flurry of interest in the niche crypto assets.
Estavi put the tweet up for resale on the popular NFT marketplace OpenSea last week, initially asking for $48m.
That price tag was removed after offers in the first week were in the low hundreds of dollars. As of Thursday, the highest bid was 2.2 of the cryptocurrency ether - equivalent to about $6,800.
"My offer to sell was high and not everyone could afford it," Estavi told Reuters via Twitter direct message, adding that he was no longer sure if he would sell the NFT.
"It's important to me who wants to buy it, I will not sell this NFT to anyone because I do not think everyone deserves this NFT," Estavi said.
NFTs are a form of crypto asset which can record the ownership of a digital file such as an image, video or text.
There is no guarantee of an NFT's value and the market is rife with scams, fraud, counterfeits and market manipulation.
But Estavi was confident in the value of his purchase.
"This NFT is not just a tweet, this is the Mona Lisa of the digital world," he said.
Estavi, who lives in Malaysia, said he had been arrested last May during a trip to Iran. He was freed in February . Iranian state media reported in May 2021 that he was accused of "disrupting the country's economic system".
Estavi said he had been arrested because of the growth of his crypto exchange, Bridge Oracle,
Reuters was unable to independently verify these details.
"I need the support of the cryptocurrency community," Estavi said.
While announcing the NFT sale in a tweet on 6 April, Estavi pledged to give 50% of the proceeds - which he expected to be at least $25m - to charity.
He said the rest would go to support Bridge Oracle.
