- Title: World Wide Web code that changed the world up for auction as NFT
- Date: 24th June 2021
- Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (JUNE 23, 2021) (REUTERS) SOUNDBITE (English) CHAIRMAN OF SOTHEBY'S EUROPE, OLIVER BARKER, SAYING: "So an NFT is ultimately, you need to think digitally, it's a digital source of authenticity and also an authenticity around ownership. So the owner of this work will absolutely fundamentally be buying something that's come from Sir Tim, is authenticated as being from Sir Tim, but equally is uniquely their own and of course the ownership will be recorded in the block chain as well. There are four elements that comprise the NFT as well, so there is the source code itself which is also digitally signed Sir Tim, there is also a visual, visualisation if you like, of the code themselves being written. We are selling a poster as well which is also another image of the entirety of all the lines of the web, and then the last thing as well is also a text which again is signed by Sir Tim, explaining this source of the idea as well."
- Embargoed: 8th July 2021 12:59
- Keywords: NFT Sotheby's Tim Berners-Lee WWW auction
- Location: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINDGOM, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND, UNKNOWN LOCATION
- City: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINDGOM, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND, UNKNOWN LOCATION
- Country: United Kingdom
- Topics: Arts/Culture/Entertainment,Europe
- Reuters ID: LVA003EIRGZ0N
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: The original source code for the World Wide Web that was written by its inventor Tim Berners-Lee is up for sale at Sotheby's as part of a non-fungible token, with bids already shooting past $200,000 with two hours of the auction beginning on Wednesday (June 23). Berners-Lee, a London-born computer scientist, invented the World Wide Web in 1989, revolutionising the sharing and creation of information in what is seen as one of the most significant inventions since the printing press appeared in Europe in 15th Century Germany. The digitally signed Ethereum blockchain non-fungible token (NFT), a one-of-a-kind digital asset which records ownership, includes the original source code, an animated visualization, a letter written by Berners-Lee and a digital poster of the full code from the original files.
NFTs have exploded in popularity in recent months, including at auction. A digital only work by American artist Mike Winkelmann, known as Beeple, sold for nearly $70 million at Christie's in March. The files contain 9,555 lines of code including implementations of the three languages and protocols invented by Berners-Lee: HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol), and URIs (Uniform Resource Identifiers). Also included are original HTML documents that instructed early web users on how to use the application.
Bids for the NFT, a way of asserting ownership of a digital asset, started at $1,000 in a standalone online auction titled "This Changed Everything" running from June 23-30.
(Production: Natalie Thomas) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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