Thanks to Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), one can sell anything from artworks to copyrighted articles, anything one can think of. Marc Ostrofsky, an early investor in now-defunct American company Theranos will be selling his stock certificates of 500,000 shares as an NFT. The decision to sell comes eighteen years after he invested $150,000 in Theranos and lost it. By selling his stock certificate as an NFT, he may find a way to recover his lost money after all these long years.
Theranos was an American privately held corporation that was touted as a breakthrough health-tech company. The company claimed that it had devised blood tests that needed only very small amounts of blood and could be done very quickly using small automated devices that it had developed.
“I may be the only investor to make money off of Theranos when all is said and done,” Marc Ostrofsky said. He had met Elizabeth Homes who convinced him to invest in her company in 2003. “She was very smart and she knew what she was doing. She was very good at pitching and had strong convictions in what she believed”, he said.
Marc Ostrofsky invested $100,000 at first in 2004 before making an additional investment of $50,000 a few years later, receiving two stock certificates which are completely worthless today. But this may be about to change…
Earlier this month in Miami while at Art Basel, the tech-investor cum art collector said he thought of selling these worthless certificates as an NFT while talking to exhibitors. “I think this is exactly what an NFT should be. Fun and a collectible. One of a kind”, he said.
The NFT which will be launched today will sell on no other place than OpenSea and will be titled “Rise and Fall of Theranos NFT”.
The NFT sale comes just in time as Elizabeth Holmes is expected to go to the jury by Friday after closing arguments are finished. The failed founder has been fighting 11 charges of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Prosecutors allege that she engaged in a multimillion-dollar scheme to defraud investors and patients. She has, however, not pleaded guilty.
Marc Ostrofsky who never filed any lawsuit against Elizabeth Holmes hopes to recover his lost investment through his NFT offering and is optimistic that it would sell for a good price.