After the NFT sold for $568,000, the journalist said he was 'laughing at the screen uncontrollably.'
When a journalist for The New York Times wrote a column about NFTs — and invited readers to buy it in tokenized form — he was hoping to raise a little money for charity.
But now, Kevin Roose says he “can’t really believe what has happened” after the winning bid came in at 350 ETH… worth about $568,300 at the time of writing.
The proceeds are going to go to the newspaper’s Neediest Cases Fund, which “supports a global community of people less fortunate.”
Following the tweets as Roose began to realize what was happening was amusing to say the least:
“$94,000!”
“lol we have crossed the 6-figure mark”
“uhhh what is happening”
“lol”
“fully just staring at my monitor laughing uncontrollably”
“anyone know a good crypto accountant”
‘Owning a Piece of History’
Just like most NFTs in the market, Roose said that he was determined to ensure that the lucky winner enjoyed some special perks alongside the tokenized article.
Although the NFT doesn’t include copyright to the article or any reproduction rights, the successful bidder is going to be featured in a follow-up article about the sale — and a voice memo congratulating them on the purchase. He also wrote:
“The biggest perk of all, of course, is owning a piece of history. This is the first article in the almost 170-year history of The Times to be distributed as an NFT, and if this technology proves to be as transformational as its fans predict, owning it might be tantamount to owning NBC’s first TV broadcast or AOL’s first email address.”
Striking a traditionally even-handed note, as journalists tend to do, he warned that NFTs could also turn out to be “a passing fad that is feeding a speculative bubble — the digital equivalent of Beanie Babies” — and your investment could turn out to be worthless.”
Only time will tell to find out who is right.
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