Sotheby's will auction World Wide Web source code as NFT

Published at: June 15, 2021

British computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee, who developed the original source code for the World Wide Web, is making the data part of a nonfungible token (NFT) through luxury auction house Sotheby’s.

According to a Tuesday announcement from Sotheby’s, the auction house will be putting up the World Wide Web NFT for bids starting on June 23. Bidding for the NFT, named “This Changed Everything” and containing time-stamped documentation of the code, will start at $1,000.

First created in 1989 before there were web browsers, Amazon, or even shareable memes, the roughly 10,000 lines of code — written using Python — includes implementations of the HTML, HTTP and URI languages and protocols. The computer scientist has also included a letter explaining how he created the code and his signature.

“NFTs, be they artworks or a digital artefact like this, are the latest playful creations in [the realm of technological transformation], and the most appropriate means of ownership that exists,” said Berners-Lee. “They are the ideal way to package the origins behind the web.”

Berners-Lee never patented the WWW source code, choosing instead to make it free for all. Perhaps as a result, current estimates put the computer scientist’s net worth at roughly $10 million, rather than what could have potentially been in the trillions or quadrillions. According to Sotheby's, all the proceeds for the NFT sale will benefit initiatives that Berners-Lee and his wife support.

Related: Sotheby's auction sets new world record for $11.8M CryptoPunk sale

Sotheby’s is seemingly becoming more well known for high-profile NFT auctions. In March, the auction house announced it would be offering tokenized art by a creator known as Pak. Last week, its London salesroom sold a CryptoPunk for $11.8 million, reportedly a world record for the type of artwork.

Tags
Nft
Related Posts
NFT studio Mojito completes $20M seed round with help from Sotheby's
NFT development studio Mojito announced Friday that they have raised $20M in seed funding from a number of investors including internationally known auction house Sotheby's. According to an announcement published in Forbes, Sotheby’s auction house, in partnership with Future Perfect Ventures, Creative Artists Agency and NEA’s Connect Ventures, contributed to the round at Mojito’s estimated value of $100 Million. The Delaware-based start-up indicated that it will use this new injection of capital to grow and develop its engineering teams, make a better version of its current NFT platform and further develop its NFT trading and investment platforms. The NFT market …
Adoption / Oct. 22, 2021
CNN selling historic news ‘moments’ as NFTs
CNN has followed Fox and Time Magazine into the NFT market, announcing the launch of collectible historic moments from the news. CNN’s NFT project is dubbed “Vault by CNN: Moments That Changed Us” and includes a series of tokenized iconic moments from its 41-year history, along with a vault to purchase, store and display the NFTs. The news organization has not revealed which specific historic moments will be tokenized, however, it noted that themes including CNN exclusives, notable firsts, world history, and presidential elections, will be covered. The initial launch will include six weekly drops starting from late June, with …
Nft / June 17, 2021
Nifty News: Amex and SZA sell-out debut drop, Asics launches tokenized footwear, Space Jam gets looney for NFTs
American Express (Amex) has teamed up with popular neo-soul singer and songwriter SZA to enter the nonfungible token (NFT) market. The duo partnered to drop a set of 14 one-of-one edition NFTs, dubbed “Amex Unstaged x SZA: The Collection,” that depict moments from one of SZA’s recent concerts. Participation in the NFT sale was made available only to Amex users, with the first 10 dropped on Monday, and concert-goer's were given exclusive access. The remaining four were dropped earlier today and were made available to all Amex users. Each NFT was priced at $100 and all were sold out within …
Artists / July 13, 2021
Vodafone auctions world’s first SMS “Merry Christmas” as NFT for charity
British telco giant Vodafone has reportedly plans to auction the world’s first Short Message Service (SMS) in the form of a nonfungible token (NFT) on Dec. 21. The SMS, that reads “Merry Christmas”, was sent 29 years ago over the Vodafone network on Dec 3, 1992, and was received by Richard Jarvis, an employee at the time. The historic 15 character-long SMS will be auctioned off as an NFT in a one-off sale conducted by the Aguttes Auction House in France, according to Romanian news outlet Ziarul Financiar. By auctioning off the world’s first SMS in the form of NFT, …
Adoption / Dec. 18, 2021
There is room for the Metaverse in 2022, but the virtual space is far from perfect
It is hard to resist the vision spun to us by Meta (formerly Facebook) and other virtual world platforms. A digital utopia that can transform lives in multiple ways — whether how we socialize, work or even stay healthy — is a hard one to refuse. This is especially true when considering that these platforms are being described as the biggest technological disruption to human life and a multi-trillion dollar opportunity for businesses. However, there is skepticism from some that this is all too good to be true — at least for now. The technological architecture that would allow this …
Adoption / April 9, 2022