What is the phenomenon of NFTs?
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(CNN) -
Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales has auctioned off a non-fungible token (NFT) from the first edition made on the site.
Wales wrote the words "Hello world!"
after launching Wikipedia on January 15, 2001, and the moment has been immortalized in an NFT that sold for $ 750,000 at Christie's on Wednesday, the auction house said in a statement.
Jimmy Wales created the issue on January 15, 2001. Credit: Christie's
What is an NFT?
An NFT is a piece of digital content linked to the blockchain, the digital database that underpins cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ethereum.
They transform digital artworks and other collectibles into unique, verifiable assets that are easy to trade on the blockchain, and have seen a huge surge in interest in the art world.
They mistakenly sold the NFT 'Boring Ape', worth US $ 284,495, for only US $ 2,844
Christie's had initially estimated that the NFT would reach between $ 100,000 and $ 150,000.
In a post-sale statement, a senior auctioneer specialist, Peter Klarnet, said the result "underscores the growing interest in Internet history among collectors."
Wales started Wikipedia after initially trying to build Nupedia, an online peer-reviewed encyclopedia written by experts, but the project failed because it took too long to approve the edits.
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"It was very, very academic and it failed because it wasn't really fun for the volunteers, it was too rigid," Wales said in the statement before the sale.
Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger proposed facilitating collaboration on web pages, and the move led to massive progress.
"In two weeks we did as much work as in almost two years," Wales said.
Wikipedia beginnings
At first anyone could edit the site and previous versions of the pages would be lost, but then Wales began backing up the site's history so that any changes could be reversed, according to the statement.
This code is part of the NFT that was put up for auction in conjunction with the strawberry-colored iMac I was working on at the time.
The iMac was sold separately for $ 187,500.
The iMac computer Wales used when creating Wikipedia was also for sale, for $ 187,500.
Credit: Christie's
The NFT buyer, who was not identified by Christie's, will be able to edit the page as they wish, as well as revert it to its original form.
Wales said this is a way "to artistically express what I think was significant about that moment of potential and excitement: that you could do something amazing or you could do something that doesn't work at all."
He added: "And I hope people respond to that, to really think: This is not mature Wikipedia, this was Jimmy's crazy idea on a fun January morning, and I think it's spectacular to think about."
A portion of the proceeds from the sale will be used to support WT.Social, Wales' alternative social media project, as well as various charities.
"It is a testament to the power of what crowdsourcing can achieve - allowing billions of people to access a wealth of information, and all for free," Klarnet said ahead of the sale.
"As frequent users of Wikipedia in the course of our own work, we are honored that we have been entrusted with two objects associated with the birth of this transformative achievement."
Wikipedia
