WIKIPEDIA CREATOR’S COMPUTER, NON-FUNGIBLE TOKENS AUCTIONED FOR ALMOST $1 MILLION

Fri 17 December 2021:

At auction on Wednesday, an NFT memorializing Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales’s first edit on the online reference resource 20 years ago, as well as the computer he used to program the platform, sold for nearly $1 million.

Christie’s sold the Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), which are one-of-a-kind digital objects that confer ownership via blockchain technology, for $750,000 and the Strawberry iMac for $187,500.

When Wales posted the first words, “Hello world,” the NFT was of Wikipedia’s first onscreen image.

The Strawberry iMac was the personal computer he “used for development and research at the time of the website’s launch on January 15, 2001,” Christie’s said.

The NFT, presented in JPEG format, is interactive, with the buyer able to edit the page, “which can be reset with a timer to revert to its original state,” according to Christie’s.

Part of the proceeds from the sales will go to the WT.Social project in Wales, which is a “non-toxic alternative” social media network with an ad-free model.

NFTs have become auction houses and the art market’s new darling art form for some collectors and investors.

An NFT of the source code for the World Wide Web sold for $5.4 million at Sotheby’s in July, while the all-digital work of American artist Beeple fetched $69.3 million at Christie’s in March, setting a new NFT record.

Christie’s also announced the auction of a bulletproof vest worn by Kanye West at a party celebrating the release of his 2021 album “Donda” on Friday.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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