Expert Analyst & Reviewer
Updated on: Feb 14, 2022
Don’t worry, nobody can own the internet. World Wide Web source code NFT is actually a representation of the first WWW source code. The artist, who is actually the real inventor of the world wide web, says that he is actually selling a drawing of a code he wrote in Python.
The owner of this NFT will receive the original source code which Sir Tim wrote 30 years ago. Sir Tim sold this NFT on Sotheby’s auction for over $5.4 Million. Not bad considering this is just a piece of art, right?
| ARTIST | Sir Tim Berners-Lee |
|---|---|
| PRICE | $5.4 Million |
| STYLE | Screenshot |
| MARKETPLACE | Sotheby's |
As previously mentioned, the World Wide Web is an NFT by Sir Tim Berners-Lee. He is the inventor of the world wide web. The best part is that he didn’t want to patent it or to charge money for people using the protocols.
You might be wondering, but why do I pay for the internet then? Well, you are not paying for the code and protocols, you are paying for the bandwidth to the internet service providers. Even though the actual NFT is a video, we’ve included the screenshot of the first 10 seconds.
The actual NFT is around 30 minutes and 25 seconds long. As the video goes on, new code appears line by line. Someone on the internet has spotted an error in the code, but the code got updated a bunch of times since its original version, so it’s not really a problem.
Everything made from the sale of this NFT will be donated to charity. Sir and Lady Bernes-Lee will decide which charities will receive that money. Perhaps they will choose multiple different charities.
The author of World Wide Web source code NFT is Sir Tim Berners-Lee. He is not only the author of this NFT but the author of the actual World Wide Web. In 2004 he got his “Sir” title when Queen Elizabeth II made him a Knight Commander.
Both his parents worked on the first commercial computer, Ferranti Mark I. He has a remarkable portfolio including a job as a software engineering consultant at CERN. While working for CERN, Sir Tim has created the first web server and first browser, but also many other helpful applications.
He is one of the most important people when we talk about the creation of the internet. Without him, you probably wouldn’t read this article because the internet wouldn’t exist. Since creating the world wide web, Sir Tim won numerous awards and honors.
It looks like Sir Tim has decided to test the blockchain technology when he created this NFT. Probably not even he thought that this NFT will go for over $5 million on auction. However, that’s what you get when you are one of the most important persons in the history of web development.
The fact that he is going to donate the money from this NFT sale shows how humble he is.
The buyer of World Wide Web source code NFT is anonymous. During the last day of the auction, a $3.5 million bid was the highest one for most of the day. However, during the last 20 minutes of the auction, there was a bidding war, and eventually, the $5.4 Million bid won.
Since the bidding can be done anonymously, well, at least for the public, we don’t know who is the buyer. He or she decided to keep their identity hidden. Who knows, perhaps someone famous bought this NFT. After all, $5.4 Million is not exactly pocket change.
This NFT wasn’t sold on a classic NFT marketplace. Instead, it was listed on the world’s famous Sotheby’s auction. However, the NFT lives on the Ethereum blockchain.
The image and other content are hosted on IPFS storage which ensures the image will live on the internet much longer than as it would with usual storage methods.
There is a 10% royalty fee for every secondary sale of this NFT. What does that mean? Well, if you buy the NFT for $10 million and later sell it for $20 million, you’ll receive $18 million. $2 million is the 10% royalty fee that the creator will receive.
At this moment, World Wide Web source code NFT does not have any utility. The owner will receive the original source code of the world wide web written between 1990 and 1991.
These source files include:
Basically, there isn’t much someone can do with those files. Imagine receiving a sword when the gun already exists. True, you can use the sword, but the gun is much more effective, the same is with these source files and the current web development progress.
However, you can think of it as a piece of history that belongs to a museum. Almost everything we use today on the internet is based on these files.
If you are looking for projects with utility, take a look at our best NFT utility ranking.
TOP COMMENT