Christie’s auctions off the first Wikipedia edit NFT for $750K
In addition to the iMac used by Wales to build Wikipedia, which sold for $187,500 at Christie's, the sale contained other items related to Wikipedia.
As it does every year, following its 20th anniversary celebration in January, the free internet encyclopedia Wikipedia continues to make history by selling its first nonfungible token (NFT) through auction house Christie’s.
Two Wikipedia-related artefacts, both donated by Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales and sold by Christie’s on Wednesday, were the subject of a successful auction.
An NFT of Wikipedia’s first update, which sold for $750,000, and a Strawberry iMac used by Wales to develop Wikipedia, which sold for $187,500, were among the assets offered in the online auction. The auction was titled “The Birth of Wikipedia.”
The NFT lot includes the first message ever posted on Wikipedia by its co-founder, Jimmy Wales, back in 2001, marking a watershed moment in the history of the internet: Wales typed the words “Hello, World!” after launching the site on Jan. 15, 2001, marking a watershed moment in the history of the internet.
The National Trust for Technology (NFT) preserves the design of the Wikipedia home page in 2001, based on the earliest surviving source code. The NFT also features a function that allows the page’s owner to update the page, which can then be reset using a timer to restore the page to its original condition.
According to Peter Klarnet, senior specialist at Christie’s, the auction’s outcome “underscores the growing interest among collectors in the history of the internet,” according to the auction house. According to the auction house, Wikipedia will utilize a portion of the sale earnings to assist WT.Social, a pilot project for an alternative social media network in Wales.
