Canadian man launches website that lets people buy and 'own' a minute of time
You can buy and name a star. You can buy a plot of land on the moon, apparently. And now, Canadians can buy something that is equally as ridiculous: a minute of time.
A Canadian man has launched a website where people can purchase and “own” a specific minute of time, because if we’ve learned anything from the internet, it’s that absolutely everything can and will be monetized.
Mauro from Gatineau, Que., asked that his last name be withheld for privacy reasons. He recently spoke with Daily Hive about his “strange little internet idea” of giving people the chance to claim a particular minute on the calendar as their very own.
It’s simple: pick an available minute in the future, give it a reason (sentimental, funny, personal or otherwise) and pay $3.
At checkout, you’ll receive an official PDF certificate with your name, the minute you’ve claimed, and the reason you decided it was worth owning. Most importantly, nobody else can buy that exact minute.
Daily Hive went ahead and splurged on a minute (11:11, to be exact) on Sept. 10, and this is the certificate we received afterwards.
“If people can buy stars, why not time?” Mauro asked.
And so he went on to launch Own The Minute on Aug. 29, his 18th wedding anniversary. For less than the cost of a cup of coffee, people can now commemorate a tiny, very specific slice of their lives.
“I know it sounds silly,” Mauro said. “But you might [have] several reasons for why a certain minute in your life is important for you.”
Maybe it’s the moment you see the person you love, the birth of a child, or something hilarious like losing a game of soccer, he explained.
The website, which is currently in beta testing, is offering Canadians the chance to “own” minutes for the remainder of 2026, and Mauro plans to soon add an option for people to purchase 2027 minutes.
Once a minute is bought, it’s retired for good, and no one else can claim it.
Mauro is under no illusion that everyone is going to get it.
There will inevitably be plenty of people who see the price tag and think: Why on earth would I pay money for this?
“It’s a way to convey a message,” he said. “But if someone is skeptical, no problem. I can’t convince the whole world, obviously.”
There is something inherently funny about putting a price on time. Nobody owns 7:43 p.m. on a Tuesday. You can’t stop someone else from living through it, and you certainly can’t put the minute in a safe.
But maybe that’s what makes the idea work in this day and age. In a world where we can put a price on almost anything, Mauro has found a way to put a few bucks on something that is completely intangible.
“What I’m really testing is whether something this simple and strange can become a real micro-business,” he said.
Will Own the Minute be a hit with Canadians? Only time will tell.