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The Almighty Buck

Tim Berners-Lee Sells Web Source Code NFT for $5.4 Million (bbc.com) 38

Posted by msmash from the how-about-that dept.
The original source code for the world wide web has been sold as a non-fungible token, making $5.4m. From a report: NFTs are certificates of ownership for digital assets, which often do not have a physical representation. They do not necessarily include copyright control -- and critics say they are get-rich-quick schemes that are bad for the environment. World-wide-web creator Sir Tim Berners-Lee sold the NFT to an unidentified buyer, through auction house Sotheby's. The highest bid stood at $3.5m for most of the last day of the auction -- but there were a flurry of bids in the closing 15 minutes. The auction began on 23 June, with an opening bid of $1,000. Further reading: Tim Berners-Lee Defends Auction of NFT Representing Web's Source Code.
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Tim Berners-Lee Sells Web Source Code NFT for $5.4 Million More

Tim Berners-Lee Sells Web Source Code NFT for $5.4 Million

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  • Well Deserved (Score:5, Insightful)

    by SuperKendall ( 25149 ) on Wednesday June 30, 2021 @01:51PM (#61537940)

    I don't know who bought that NFT or for what reason...

    I don't really see the point of buying an NFT myself...

    All that said, if there was anyone own this Earth who deserves 5.4 million dollars as a kind of lifetime recognition award, it is Tim Berners-Lee, so I applaud the sale and result.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by laktech ( 998064 )
      you're obviously too poor to comprehend how to reduce your tax burden

    • I should coco, unlike the software guys, he was part of the scientific community, to whom sharing is normal & everyday.

      He could have been richer than Croesus, and certainly richer than Gates/Ellison/Jobs/Musk et al. Who patented concepts & ideas (software)

      I've excluded Bezos, as he took the web, thanks Tim, & sold stuff. Well.

      • TBL once told me that he had terrible regrets regarding not patenting the URL, given their proliferation in everything by '96 or '97. He would have been ok with a few cents per use.

        This was after several sake bombs at a Naperville Benihana's.

        • With the exponential growth of the new-fangled-interwebs *after* 96 - 97, he probably thought *before* 96 - 97 a few hundred dollars would have been handy extra income. Scientists aren't the best paid.

          He didn't accumulate billions of dollars/quids as others did, but he's since been rewarded and probably is able to feel better about it now.

    • And if he wants to do it again, he can always sell it again with another NFT.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      They're as pointless as any collectible items.

      That is to say , completely pointless but people will pay to say they have what other people cant have

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by opk ( 149665 )

      From what I understand, the proceeds are going to charity rather than Tim Berners-Lee's personal finances. Does seem like a lot of money to the point that I wonder if this is some sort of money laundering and not just somebody enjoying virtual stamp collecting with their crypto fortune.

      • From what I understand, the proceeds are going to charity

        I was thinking something like that might be the case but I'd like to think he got at least a bit of that... even just being able to re-direct that much to a charity of his choice is well-deserved reward.

        Does seem like a lot of money to the point that I wonder if this is some sort of money laundering

        Ordinarily I would be right there with you wondering, but in this case I choose to believe in the generosity of humanity at work and nothing more.

      • I wonder if this is some sort of money laundering

        I'm not sure you understand how money laundering works. You don't spend money to launder it, you take money from anonymous sources and say you took in more than you did. An auction at Sotheby's is probably the worst way to launder money.

    • And as far as get rich quick schemes, these are relatively benign, compared to say the anti vax people

      • And as far as get rich quick schemes, these are relatively benign, compared to say the anti vax people

        Pray tell, how one earth does one get rich quick out of not taking vaccines? I'm genuinely curious.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by rduke15 ( 721841 )

      Exactly what I wanted to write when I saw the headline. But you did it already hours ago...

    • See here [groco.com]. There's a couple other scams out there for the very wealthy you can read up about by googling stuff like "how the rich use art to avoid paying taxes".

  • LOL @ bitcoin boomer logic (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    bitcoin boomer: [Mints coin early on, does a "HODL" for 12+ years]
    (looks at self in the mirror) "I'm so handsomely brilliant!"

    Artist: creates art; makes a single NFT for it and auctions it off in 3 days; makes $1Million.
    bitcoin boomer: "People that do NTFs are such fucking morons!"

    • bitcoin boomer: "People that do NTFs are such fucking morons!"

      It's the people who buy them that are morons.

  • World-wide-web creator Sir Tim Berners-Lee sold the NFT to an unidentified buyer, through auction house Sotheby's.

    Poor Al Gore. He got screwed.

  • At least print it out on green and white fan-fold dot-matrix printer paper.

  • Probably bought by an Apple fanboy who believes TBL did it all himself because he's associated with Apple. He'll put it on an Apple USB thumbdrive that he'll pay $45,000 for, and then mount it to an Apple picture frame costing $305,000 and hang it on a wall.

    By the way TBL wouldn't have done shit if someone else hadn't actually invented the fundamental building blocks of the WWW, hypertext. And that would have been jointly shared by Ted Nelson and Doublas Engelbart. It pisses me off that TBL gets all the

  • I remember when you had to earn bragging rights. Now they're bought and sold on the open market.

  • But what is the reason to buy? Is it a status symbol of some sort for Hollywood starlets?

    • In a world where we celebrate artists who can't do anything, we can as well celebrate art that is not anything.

  • plot twist (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    These NFTs are being bought by Q-insider patent trolls who are going to use them in copyright lawsuits after Trump is reinstated, changes the law, installs his judges, and gets a 50% stake.

  • what morons (Score:3)

    by cjonslashdot ( 904508 ) on Wednesday June 30, 2021 @04:05PM (#61538470)
    I cloned the repo so I have it too - for free LOL
    • But is your name written in a prestigious ledger? Tell you what, since you're interested, I'll put you down in my ledger as the owner of this code for the low low price of $200. Is that a great deal or what!?
      • LOL. Yes, isn't it all crazy? Do people paying for these NFTs not understand what they are doing? Or is it all money laundering?

  • Non-valuable tokens. The perfect thing to trade your gambling tokens for.

  • So what happens if a big is found in the code - being an NFT object it can't be fixed! That's $5.4 million down the drain!

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