The non-fungible token (NFT) depicting the original files of the internet source code for the World Wide Web became the latest one to fetch a value of millions of dollars after it sold for $5.4 million.
The digital asset has been offered for auction this month and was auctioned off by Tim Berners-Lee for $5,434,500. It was listed by Sotheby’s Auction House and was labeled “Source Code for the WWW (1990-1991).”
The NFT was paid for through cryptocurrency, owing to the nature of the technology. It is now recognized as one of the digital tokens that were sold at insanely high prices.
Some experts say that this development also implied that although the hype has slowed down, the NFT industry and marketplace can still produce assets that command high value.
‘This Changed Everything’
The digital artwork did not come without additional perks. Called “This Changed Everything,” the NFT also included visualization of the code as it was being written as well as a scalable vector graphics representation of the code with a graphic autograph by no less than Mr. Berners-Lee.
Moreover, a digital letter written by the creator of the World Wide Web that reflected his thought process in creating the source code was also included in the NFT.
“The symbolism, the history, the fact that they’re coming from the creator is what makes them valuable – and there are lots of people who collect things for exactly those reasons,” said Sotheby’s Global Head of Science and Popular Culture, Cassandra Hatton.
Right up there
While its $5.4 million value is far from the highest price for an NFT which stands at $69 million (Everydays: The First 500 Days by artist Beeple), “This Changed Everything” ranks among the highest ones.
In fact, it surpassed in value the digital collectible of Jack Dorsey that depicted the first tweet on Twitter which sold for a little less than $3 million.
Image courtesy of Cointelegraph News/YouTube