TL;DR Breakdown
• Wikipedia co-founder will release a non-expendable piece in honor of the strawberry iMac.
• The Wikipedia NFT will be auctioned at Christie’s until December 15th.
Wikipedia joins the fever for non-fungible tokens with the statements of its co-founder Jimmy Wales. According to Wales, the free encyclopedia that dominates the internet plans to create its first NFT piece for the general public.
Wales’ statements come alongside posts from Christie’s, one of the largest auction agencies in London, on the unique NFT. The auction agency believes this non-expendable parts sale will succeed, considering that Wikipedia has been used by thousands of people worldwide since 2001 when it made its debut on the internet.
Global encyclopedia on the internet launches its NFT
Non-fungible tokens or NFTs are digital pieces with a value linked to the Ethereum Blockchain. These virtual pieces have transformed the auctions world, moving from the physical era to a digital one where everyone can participate. There are NFTs based on artwork, music, movies, food, and now a global encyclopedia like Wikipedia.
NFTs fans will be interested in owning a unique virtual piece of this encyclopedia. According to reports, the website is ranked number 10 among the most used websites in the world.
The auction could start in the next few days, and according to Christie’s, the agency in charge of publicizing the NFT, its value would be between $100,000 and $150,000. Wikipedia co-founder believes that its value could increase as the days of the auction approach.
Closing date for Wikipedia’s NFT
Wales reveals that the NFT piece from Wikipedia will be available at Christie’s until next Wednesday, December 15th. Without disclosing what the non-fungible token was about, how it was represented, or even its initial auction value. This indicates that Wales wants to attract many more people to the auction so the virtual pieces can sell out quickly.
Also included in the NFT auction will be the “strawberry-colored iMac” piece representing the first Mac computers in history. Wales indicates that people who obtain the non-fungible piece will have the permissions to blog about Strawberry’s iMac. According to the Collins dictionary widely used on the internet, the most searched word in 2021 is “NFT,” while “cheugy” and “crypto” remain as alternative words.
All the money raised from Wikipedia’s NFT sale will be sent to WT Social, a project supported alternative social networks since 2019, founded by Jimmy Wales. But Wales also aims to support the most vulnerable charities but does not specify the names. These advances put the global encyclopedia back on the map, considering it had been overshadowed by other research websites such as Wikilengua, Fandom, Encyclopedia.com, and Kiddle.
