“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 Thursday, he tweeted that it had sold.

There’s been a boom in sales of NFTs. In March, a work by the digital artist Beeple sold for 69 million USD at Christie’s. NFTs are tied to digital ledgers such as blockchains and are difficult to fake.

“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.