London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Oct 16, 2025

Wikipedia's first ever edit is being auctioned as an NFT

Wikipedia's first ever edit is being auctioned as an NFT

Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales is auctioning off a non-fungible token (NFT) of the first edit ever made on the site.

Wales typed the words "Hello, World!" after launching Wikipedia on January 15, 2001, and the moment has been immortalized in an NFT that is being sold by Christie's, the auction house said in a statement.

An NFT is a piece of digital content linked to the blockchain, the digital database underpinning cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and ethereum.

They transform digital works of art and other collectibles into one-of-a-kind, verifiable assets that are easy to trade on the blockchain, and have seen a huge spike of interest in the art world.

Jimmy Wales created the edit on January 15, 2001.


Now, collectors have a chance to buy the very first entry on what has gone on to become the largest repository of free information on the internet and one of the world's top 10 most-visited websites, according to Christie's, which estimates that the NFT will sell for $100,000-150,000.

Wales started Wikipedia after initially trying to build Nupedia, a peer-reviewed online encyclopedia written by experts, but the project failed because it took too long to approve edits.

"It was very, very academic and it failed because it wasn't really any fun for volunteers -- it was too rigid," Wales said in the statement.

Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger proposed making it easier to collaborate on web pages, and the move led to massive progress.

"Within two weeks we had as much work done as in almost two years," Wales said.

At first, anyone could edit the site and previous versions of pages would be lost, but then Wales started to back up the site's history in order to be able to reverse any changes, according to the statement.

That code is part of the NFT that is up for auction as part of a sale that runs online until December 15, and also includes the strawberry iMac Wales worked on at the time.

Whoever buys the NFT will be able to edit the page however they like, as well as revert it to its original form.

Wales said this is a way "to express artistically what I think was meaningful about that moment of potential and excitement — that you might make something amazing, or you might make something that doesn't work at all."

He added: "And I hope people respond to that, to really think back: this isn't the mature Wikipedia, this was Jimmy's crazy idea on a funny January morning, which I think is kind of spectacular to think about."

Money from the sale will support WT.Social, Wales' alternative social media project, as well as various charities.

"It is a testament to the power of what crowd-sourcing can achieve: allowing billions of people access to a vast trove of information — and all of it free of charge," Peter Klarnet, Christie's senior specialist for Americana, books and manuscripts, said in the statement.

"As frequent users of Wikipedia in the course of our own work we are honoured to have been entrusted with two objects associated with the birth of this transformative achievement."

Comments

Oh ya 4 year ago
So now i feel dated as i still own my 1st computer like the one in the photo except mine is the blue one.. Should fire it up and see if it still works

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
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
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
×