About two weeks ago, Sir Tim Berners-Lee announced the auctioning of the source codes of the World Wide Web (www) as a Non-Fungible Token (NFT). The auction was designated to start on the 23rd of June and to open at a bid of $1,000.
As at today, bids for the source codes have skyrocketed to a whopping $2.8 million. The source codes are being auctioned off at Sotheby’s and will come to an end in two days time on the 30th of June.
Although the sales of NFTs have dropped this quarter compared to the last, NFT sales, in general, have recorded quite some impressive milestones. According to data from Nonfungible, total NFT sales in the first quarter ran into $2 billion, this isn’t the case for NFT sales in this quarter as NFT sales seem to have plummeted. NFT advocates also believe that a bright future lies ahead for sales of NFT.
According to Sotheby’s, the digital artifact being sold as an NFT is made up of four parts – “The original time-stamped files containing the source code; a letter written by Sir Tim; an animated visualization of the code; a letter written by Sir Tim reflecting on the code and the process of creating it; as well as a digital ‘poster’ of the full code created by Sir Tim from the original files using Python including a graphic of his physical signature; all digitally signed”.
“Why an NFT? Well, it’s a natural thing to do when you’re a computer scientist and when you write a code and have been for many years. It feels right to digitally sign my autograph on a completely digital artifact”, Sir Tim Berners-Lee said giving details about why he’s selling the source codes as an NFT.
The source codes are digitally signed on the Ethereum network blockchain. Bids for the NFT are still expected to skyrocket above $2.8 million as there are still about 48 hours before the bidding comes to an end.
A digital collage by Mike Winkelmann, who goes under the name Beeple, was put up for sale and sold at $69.3 million at Christie’s. It remains the most expensive NFT sale ever.
The auction of the source codes of the World Wide Web will come to an end at exactly 18:01 GMT on Wednesday, and experts say the NFT could end at a bid of $30 million.
