The New York Times sold an article tied to an NFT, or nonfungible token, for about US$560,000, another sign of the red-hot market for digital collectibles.
“Buy This Column on the Blockchain!” from Times journalist Kevin Roose was turned into an NFT and auctioned off on the open market, with the proceeds going to the newspaper’s Neediest Cases Fund, which supports charitable causes.
The actual subject of the column published Wednesday was NFTs, which carry certificates of authenticity proving that online works of art are unique. On March 25, he tweeted that it had sold.
The NYT made a NFT!
My new column is about NFTs, and I also turned the column into a NFT and put it up for auction on @withFND, with proceeds going to charity.
Bid away, and you could own the first NFT in the paper's 170-year history. https://t.co/9ItGZvID8B
There’s been a boom in sales of NFTs. In March, a work by the digital artist Beeple sold for US$69 million at Christie’s. NFTs are tied to digital ledgers such as blockchains and are difficult to fake.
See: Prices in a 'bubble', artist says after US$69 mil NFT sale to Singapore buyer
“Why can’t a journalist join the NFT party, too?” Roose wrote in this column.
Times shares briefly rose on Roose’s tweet, a sign that some investors may have momentarily thought the publisher had discovered a lucrative new business.
