London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Oct 17, 2025

New York Times Sells Column For Over $550k In NFT Experiment

New York Times Sells Column For Over $550k In NFT Experiment

“Uhhh what is happening,” technology reporter Kevin Roose, the column’s author, wrote on Twitter.
The NYT sold ownership of a previously-printed column by technology reporter Kevin Roose for over $558,000 Thursday in its first-ever experiment with a non-fungible token auction, promising bidders they would be a part of history as the NFT market continues to explode in popularity.

The newspaper sold the column—entitled “Buy This Column on the Blockchain!”—as an NFT for 350 of the digital currency Ethereum, which amounts to $558,134.50.

The column was put up for sale on an online marketplace on Wednesday, where artists and investors have been experimenting with tokenizing digital content, each item of which—distinguishable by its code—is able to be traded using blockchain technology and is valued for its scarcity.

Roose’s column was purchased by a user named @3FMusic, who, in addition to ownership of the column in the form of a PNG image of the article, will be mentioned in a follow-up story about the sale and will receive a personalized voice memo from Michael Barbaro, the host of “The Daily” podcast.

“The biggest perk of all, of course, is owning a piece of history,” Roose wrote in the column, noting that the article is the first NFT in the newspaper’s almost 170-year history.

The proceeds of the sale will go to the The New York Times’s Neediest Case Fund, a charitable arm of the paper that supports social causes in New York and beyond.

CRUCIAL QUOTE

“Fully just staring at my monitor laughing uncontrollably,” Roose tweeted after the auction closed on Thursday afternoon.

KEY BACKGROUND

The trend of buying and selling NFTs has exploded in popularity over the past few months. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey sold his first-ever tweet as an NFT for $2.9 million earlier this week, a post that read “just setting up my twittr.” Meanwhile, pieces of digital art have sold for millions of dollars.

BIG NUMBER

$7.5 million. That’s the highest amount an NFT has sold for. The record-breaking digital collectable? A computer-generated avatar of a pipe-smoking alien wearing a hat and sunglasses.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
U.S. Chamber Sues Trump Over $100,000 H-1B Visa Fee
Shenzhen Expo Spotlights China’s Quantum Step in Semiconductor Self-Reliance
China Accelerates to the Forefront in Global Nuclear Fusion Race
Yachts, Private Jets, and a Picasso Painting: Exposed as 'One of the Largest Frauds in History'
Australia’s Wedgetail Spies Aid NATO Response as Russian MiGs Breach Estonian Airspace
McGowan Urges Chalmers to Cut Spending Over Tax Hike to Close $20 Billion Budget Gap
Victoria Orders Review of Transgender Prison Placement Amid Safety Concerns for Female Inmates
U.S. Treasury Mobilises New $20 Billion Debt Facility to Stabilise Argentina
French Business Leaders Decry Budget as Macron’s Pro-Enterprise Promise Undermined
Trump Claims Modi Pledged India Would End Russian Oil Imports Amid U.S. Tariff Pressure
Surging AI Startup Valuations Fuel Bubble Concerns Among Top Investors
Australian Punter Archie Wilson Tears Up During Nebraska Press Conference, Sparking Conversation on Male Vulnerability
Australia Confirms U.S. Access to Upgraded Submarine Shipyard Under AUKUS Deal
“Firepower” Promised for Ukraine as NATO Ministers Meet — But U.S. Tomahawks Remain Undecided
Brands Confront New Dilemma as Extremists Adopt Fashion Labels
The Sydney Sweeney and Jeans Storm: “The Outcome Surpassed Our Wildest Dreams”
Erika Kirk Delivers Moving Tribute at White House as Trump Awards Charlie Presidential Medal of Freedom
British Food Influencer ‘Big John’ Detained in Australia After Visa Dispute
ScamBodia: The Chinese Fraud Empire Shielded by Cambodia’s Ruling Elite
French PM Suspends Macron’s Pension Reform Until After 2027 in Bid to Stabilize Government
Orange, Bouygues and Free Make €17 Billion Bid for Drahi’s Altice France Telecom Assets
Dutch Government Seizes Chipmaker After U.S. Presses for Removal of Chinese CEO
Bessent Accuses China of Dragging Down Global Economy Amid New Trade Curbs
U.S. Revokes Visas of Foreign Nationals Who ‘Celebrated’ Charlie Kirk’s Assassination
AI and Cybersecurity at Forefront as GITEX Global 2025 Kicks Off in Dubai
DJI Loses Appeal to Remove Pentagon’s ‘Chinese Military Company’ Label
EU Deploys New Biometric Entry/Exit System: What Non-EU Travelers Must Know
Australian Prime Minister’s Private Number Exposed Through AI Contact Scraper
Ex-Microsoft Engineer Confirms Famous Windows XP Key Was Leaked Corporate License, Not a Hack
China’s lesson for the US: it takes more than chips to win the AI race
Australia Faces Demographic Risk as Fertility Falls to Record Low
California County Reinstates Mask Mandate in Health Facilities as Respiratory Illness Risk Rises
Israel and Hamas Agree to First Phase of Trump-Brokered Gaza Truce, Hostages to Be Freed
French Political Turmoil Elevates Marine Le Pen as Rassemblement National Poised for Power
China Unveils Sweeping Rare Earth Export Controls to Shield ‘National Security’
The Davos Set in Decline: Why the World Economic Forum’s Power Must Be Challenged
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
×