Tim Berners-Lee's source code for the web is being auctioned off as an NFT

The bidding for the meta auction starts at $1,000.

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Eli Blumenthal

June 15, 2021 8:25 a.m. PT

World Wide Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee speaks at the Oktane 2019 conference. An NFT with Berners-Lee's source code is going up for auction.
Stephen Shankland/CNET

Want an NFT of the original source code for the web? You'll soon be able to get your chance. On Tuesday auction house Sotheby's announced that it will be offering up Tim Berners-Lee's source code for the World Wide Web.

According to CNBC, the auction will be run by Sotheby's London branch from June 23 to 30, with the bidding for the NFT, titled This Changed Everything, starting at $1,000. The outlet reports that the "proceeds of the auction will benefit initiatives that Berners-Lee and his wife support."

NFTs, also known as non-fungible tokens, are digital assets that show ownership for a particular virtual item. The technology has surged in popularity in recent months, with interest -- and sales -- of NFTs for everything from sports highlights to memes and tweets being put up for bidding. A piece of digital art sold at Christie's auction house for $69 million in March.

Read more: CNET explains NFTs

Berners-Lee is credited with inventing the World Wide Web in 1989. With the NFT auction, people will be able to bid for "the original time-stamped files containing the source code for the World Wide Web, digitally signed by Sir Tim," Fast Company reports citing Sotheby's. There will also be a "digital poster" with the full 9,000 lines of code as well as a letter from Berners-Lee on the web's creation.