The Forbes NFT, “Merchants of the Metaverse,” went for auction on Wednesday at 1:30 P.M. (EST). The top bid so far is $333,000, with nearly one hour remaining.

For the Forbes NFT, this is a stark growth from the initial bid of $350. Proceeds from the auction will support the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and the International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF). The other bids for the NFT ranking from number 2 to number 5 are currently in the $198,000 range.

Essentially, the NFT is a transformation of the American business magazine’s latest cover. A first for the publishing industry, like Forbes, professed. The NFT version of the cover depicts the Winklevoss twins, whose NFT platform Nifty Gateway hosts the auction. World-renowned artist Yoshi Sodeoka produced the NFT, using Michael Prince’s original cover.

Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, who have a combined net worth of $6 billion, purchased Nifty Gateway back in 2019. In addition to being the subject of the Billionaire Issue’s cover story, “Revenge of the Winklevii,” they were also among the Crypto founders listed on the Forbes 2021 Billionaires List.

Mainly, CPJ is a not-for-profit organization set up to promote worldwide press freedom. Their mission involves defending journalists and their work from reprisals, including attacks, imprisonments, and even murder. Meanwhile, the IWMF works to support, protect, and recognize female journalists’ roles, trying to ensure their mental and physical safety on the job.

While Forbes’ Chief Content Officer Randall Lane lauded the cover as one-of-a-kind, the business magazine is by no means the first to launch an NFT of their cover. Back on March 24th, American news magazine Time auctioned off three cover art NFTs.

Among them was one of the most iconic covers in Time‘s history. The first to comprise only text, the cover showed the words, “Is God Dead?”, first released on April 8th, 1966. This inspired the other two covers released as NFTs, which bore the questions “Is Truth Dead?” and “Is Fiat Dead?” respectively.

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