Just in case you’re worried that NFTs aren’t getting a wedge into being taken more seriously, Sotheby’s is here to change your mind.

It has successfully sold the NFT of the World Wide Web source code for US$5.4 million, effectively taking NFTs from the realm of gag-like Doge memes to secure a spot in history.

The NFT of the original source code of the World Wide Web written by inventor Sir Tim Berners-Lee closed in an online auction on 30 June 2021 that saw half of the bidders new to Sotheby’s.

“The symbolism, the history, the fact that they’re coming from the creator is what makes them valuable, and there are lots of people who collect things for exactly those reasons,” said Cassandra Hatton, the global head of science and popular culture at Sotheby’s.

The sale effectively comprises a blockchain-based record of ownership of the files containing the original source code of the web – dated and time-stamped – amounting to about 9,555 lines of code written from 3 October 1990- 24 August 1991. Included are also a 30-minute-25-second animated visualisation of the code, a digital poster of the code and a digital letter written by Berners-Lee in June 2021 of him reflecting on the code and the process of his invention.

A snippet of the beginning of the letter was shared: “As people seemed to appreciate autographed versions of books, now we have NFT technology, I thought it could be fun to make an autographed copy of the original code of the first web browser.”

Visit the official Sotheby’s website here for more information.