Non-Fungible Tokens, AKA NTFs, are blockchain-based assets used to show ownership of a collectible. The digital asset seems to have exploded this year, witnessing art and music selling for millions of dollars.
How NTFs Work
With some economic background, a fungible token is something with units of value that can be readily interchanged. For example, a $20 note can be interchanged for 2-$10 notes and retain the same value.
Contrarily, an NTF has unique properties and cannot be traded in place of another. Even if, let’s say, a picture of an art piece is taken or printed, it does not change the fact that only one original exists.
The luxury auction house, Sotheby, has announced it will sell the World Wide Web’s original source code as a non-fungible token. As per their official communication yesterday, the sale will go live on 23rd June, with the bids starting at $1,000.
The files referenced contain about 9,555 lines of code written by Berners-Lee, which include these three languages; HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), HTTP (Hypertext Markup Language), HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol), and URLs (Uniform Resource Identifiers).
This sale marks the third-ever auction hosted by the Sotheby involving NTFs. The first auction house sold the anonymous digital artist pak in April, and the second one, only a week since, sold a rare crypto punk for almost $12 million.
If all goes well and the auction succeeds, all proceeds resulting will go to initiatives Berners-Lee and his wife endorse.
When questioned on his POV, Berners-Lee delights in creating three decades ago, which assisted many collaborators across the world in bringing a powerful tool for humanity. He appreciates as such artworks being the latest playful creations in the crypto realm and the new means to ownership.
‘They are the ideal way to package the origins behind the web.’ He says.
