WWW creator says he’ll auction the World Wide Web source code as a NFT, starting at $1000

The creator of the World Wide Web Sir Tim Berners-Lee announced he’ll auction the original World Wide Web source code as an NFT.

Sotheby will be hosting the action titled “This Changed Everything” between June 23 and 30 in a standalone online auction.

“Three decades ago, I created something which has been a powerful tool for humanity,” said Sir Tim.

What will the NFT purchase include?

The NFT will include the time-stamped files containing the source code written by Sir Tim.

The WWW auction package will also include an animated visualisation of the code, a personal letter from the creator and a digital “poster” of the full code. Sir Tim will also digitally sign all parts of the NFT.

The full code amounts to nearly 10,000 lines of HTML, HTTP and URI in total, The code also includes the original HTML instructions for early web users.

“I sincerely hope its use knowledge and potential will remain open and available to us all to continue to innovate, create and initiate the next technological transformation, that we cannot yet imagine,” said Sir Tim.

“They are the ideal way to package the origins behind the web.”

Sir Tim Berners-Lee

What are NFTs?

NFT stands for “non-fungible token”. Each NFT is entirely unique, and cannot be replaced. Most NFTs form part of the Ethereum blockchain.

Sir Tim says NFTs are the web’s “latest playful creation” and the most “appropriate means of digital ownership that exists.”

“Why an NFT? Well, it’s a natural thing to do as 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 artefact,” he added.

History of the World Wide Web

The “WorldWideWeb” application was the first hypermedia browser. It allowed users to create and
navigate links between files across a network of computers.

Three decades later, that single server and website has turned into over 1.7 billion websites being accessed by 4.6 billion people around the world.

A mission to “re-decentralise” the web

Today, Sir Tim is working on a project called Solid, which aims to bring the web ‘closer to his original vision’ when things were completely open and without centralisation.

Sir Tim says the movement to “redecentralise” the web is gaining traction.

He hopes that the movement will empower users with ownership of their own data.