Anthony Weiner is considering cashing in on the tweet that brought his world crashing in - by selling it as an NFT.
Weiner, for those who forgot about him, represented New York’s 9th congressional district for over a decade before resigning in 2011 after accidentally tweeting a sexually explicit photo he’d meant to send in private.
A former rising Democratic star, Weiner made headlines again in 2013, when he ran for mayor of New York City. This time, he was discovered to be sending explicit texts to a 15-year-old, which landed him in prison and makes him, now out of jail, a registered sex offender.
For some reason, the New York Times still wanted to know what he thought about this year’s New York City mayoral race.
He used the interview, with media editor Ben Smith, to lament the way social media and fame, and not sexually engaging with a minor, ruined his life.
He said that he believes the tweet he sent in 2011 would sell well as a Non-Fungible Token. He’d also sell the search warrant for the laptop he messaged the minor on, an email from Jon Stewart, or a check Donald Trump sent an early campaign, if Silicon Valley would buy.
“Cashing in would be nice,” Weiner said.
Dubbed crypto-collectibles, NFTs are unique digital assets that use blockchain – the technology underpinning the cryptocurrency market – to give someone sole ownership.
“I was famous for being famous, and I was a candidate because I had been a candidate, and I had all this money from past campaigns,” he told the Times when naming his struggles.
He also noted that Hillary Clinton’s team, which was connected to Weiner by virtue of his soon-to-be ex-wife’s job for Clinton, is still unhappy with his role in bringing negative press to her 2016 run.
“If you do believe in this butterfly effect, I’ve got the butterfly’s wings and its antennas,” he added.
