Wold Wide Web's Original Source Code To Be Sold As An NFT

The inventor of the world wide web, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, is selling off the original code used to create the modern internet as a non-fungible token (NFT).

If you’re reading this article, you’re probably doing so on the World Wide Web. And if you’d like to own a piece of the web’s history, you now have the chance to purchase a copy of its original code in the form of a non-fungible token.

Although the groundbreaking code has long been in the public domain, the British computer scientist has now authorized the sale of a single edition of his original time-stamped files.

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The code up for auction contains elements of the web that many of us are familiar with today, including functions to parse and display HTML documents, rudimentary styling support, the HTTP protocol, and even the ability to print a webpage.

Bids for the digitally signed Ethereum blockchain NFT will start at just $1,000 during the auction titled This Changed Everything and set to run from June 23 to June 30.

The auction, being run by Sotheby’s, will not only include the code for the WorldWideWeb browser, but also a letter from Berners-Lee himself, a vector file that could be printed as a poster, and a 30-minute silent video that depicts the code being typed out. According to a press release from Sotheby’s, the proceeds will benefit causes supported by Berners-Lee and his wife.

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Sir Tim invented the world wide web — the main modern way we use the internet — in 1989. Although the world's first web page didn't go live until 1991, the birth of the World Wide Web is usually considered to be 1989, the year that Berners-Lee submitted a manuscript entitled "Information Management: A Proposal" at CERN, a particle physics research laboratory in Switzerland.

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Initially designed to help scientists collaborate, his invention soon expanded beyond the academic world. There are now over 4.6 billion active internet users in the world.

 He is currently the director of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) which oversees the continued development of the Web.