British computer scientist and inventor, Tim Berners-Lee is auctioning the source code for the World Wide Web as a non-fungible token (NFT) with bids starting at just $1,000 through auction house Sotheby’s. The sale marks Sotheby’s third auction that involves NFTs with the first auction involving anonymous digital artist Pak and the second NFT of a rare CryptoPunk that got sold for nearly $12 million.

Sotheby’s is Auctioning the World Wide Web’s Code as an NFT

British computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee who developed the original source code for the World Wide Web is auctioning the code as a nonfungible token (NFT) titled “This Changed Everything”.

In 1989, British computer scientist @timberners_lee invented the World Wide Web in a moment that changed the world forever. Now, Sir Tim will offer the source code for the Web as an NFT in a historic one-off sale. Thread below (1/4)#ThisChangedEverything pic.twitter.com/nYvBFrz0Zr

— Sotheby’s (@Sothebys) June 15, 2021

The auction for the NFT will be run by Sotheby’s in London from June 23-30, with bidding starting at $1,000, with proceeds of the auction benefitting “causes” supported by Berners-Lee and his wife Rosemary Leith.

“Why an NFT? Well, it’s a natural thing to do when you’re a computer scientist and when you write code and have been for many years. It feels right to digitally sign my autograph on a completely digital artifact,” says Berners-Lee.

The NFT files contain a bundle of four digital items: the original time-stamped files containing the source code written in 1990 and 1999; 30 minutes of an animated visualization of the code being written; a letter written by the inventor, reflecting on the code and his process creating it; and a digital “poster” of the code signed by him.

NFT Will Contain About 9,555 Lines of Code

The highest bidder will get a copy of the files which contain about 9,555 lines of code, which include parts of the three languages and one protocol Berners-Lee invented: HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol), and URLs (Uniform Resource Identifiers).

“NFTs, be they artworks or a digital artifact like this, are the latest playful creations in this realm, and the most appropriate means of ownership that exists. They are the ideal way to package the origins behind the web,” adds Berners-Lee.

In spite of being the inventor of the world wide web, Berners-Lee has not monetized on his creation making the web open to all putting its three components into the Public Domain.