Jimmy Donal Wales, the co-founder of Wikipedia has decided to sell his first edit as an NFT (non-fungible Token).
NFT is a unique, non-changeable form of data. Apparently, crypto enthusiasts love it.
Why Is Jimmy Auctioning The Early Version Of Wikipedia?
The funds raised by auctioning will go to a social network that Jimmy Wales launched in 2019 and towards other charitable causes. The sale will go on from 3rd December 2021 to 15th December 2021 at the auction house Christie.
According to Peter Klarnet, Christie’s specialist, “(Wikipedia is) built upon the effort of millions over the past 20 years, is one of the finest examples of what decentralized groups working toward a common goal can achieve.”
A Strawberry iMac that Wales was using at the time of Wikipedia’s launch will also be put on sale besides the edit.
Jimmy said in an interview that the motive behind selling the project was to make people look back in time at the moment when Jimmy launched the site. “The artistic concept is to take people back to that moment when I set up the website and had to think, ‘Gosh, this is so vulnerable. Like anybody can edit. It might just destroy the whole thing, and I’ll be taken over by trolls in five minutes,” said Wales.
Wales also revealed that he had been thinking about it for quite some time and that he “specifically chose a moment in time before anybody else had ever touched Wikipedia” because he didn’t want to feel as if he were exploiting something.
Jimmy Wales also mentioned that NFTs have more potential than the normal methods of generating profits. Meme images selling as NFTs were the example he gave to justify his choice. The Wikipedia co-founder also added “We’re nonetheless very, very removed from mainstream adoption of cryptocurrencies”
Jimmy Wales’ Personal Life-
Jimmy is a 55-year-old American-British entrepreneur. Born in Huntsville, Alabama, he graduated from Randolph School in Huntsville. He then went to Auburn University from where he got a bachelor’s degree in finance. As a child, Wales was fond of encyclopedias which was the motivation behind starting Wikipedia.
Wales married Pamela Green when he was 20 years old and the couple split up in 1993. He then tied the knots with Christine Rohan in 1997 and split up in 2008. The couple also welcomed a daughter together.
He married Katie Garvey in 2012 and welcomed two daughters into the world with her.