The Simpsons' episode Bart Sells His Soul sees Bart, who doesn’t believe in the soul, sell his to Milhouse for $5 only to later regret it and be unable to buy it back. The drama comes to a close when Bart gets to eat the physical piece paper which he scrawled "Bart Simpson's Soul" on.

A simple solution, but how do you become whole again after selling your soul as a non-fungible token (NFT)? We could soon find out, as we’ve officially entered the “selling my soul” phase of the cryptocurrency-NFT chapters of humanity’s departure from the light.

The “soul” up for sale belongs to 21-year-old Hague art academy student Stijn van Schaik, who’s put the entity on the NFT market as a digital artwork, report Crypto Insiders. In case you’re in the market for a backup (or replacement) soul, it can be purchased on OpenSea where it’s listed as “Soul of Stinus”.

“Hello person, you are currently looking at a soul,” writes Van Schaik. “For now it is mine. Once it is fully uploaded on the blockchain, who knows what will happen. What does it mean for a soul to be decentralised? Let us find out.”

NFT’s are a divisive art form, representing a “unique” digital object that can be owned by only one person, despite the fact that all that can change with a swift Right Click + Save. It’s one thing to copy and paste someone’s beloved ape illustration (or think you've purchased the rights to Dune), but what happens if multiple people duplicate a soul NFT? Could Van Schaik be on the verge of the first-ever digital horcrux?

It seems The Simpsons may once again have unwittingly predicted the future, as the new owner of Schaik’s soul is free to sell it on just like Milhouse when he sold Bart’s soul to Comic Book Guy. Van Shaik has however laid down a few rules in a "sale of soul agreement" as to who the soul can be sold onto, and even details fair use regarding sacrifices.

“Example uses of the Soul which would be permitted under these terms include (but are not limited to): ...Sacrificing or offering said Soul, in whole or in part, to any deity or spiritual entity,” wrote Van Shaik.

Blasphemy aside, Van Schaik’s soul has so far received just one bid putting the NFT at a price of 0.1 Ethereum (~ $378). So, could you use a spare?

If you’re still a little rusty on the strange new world of cryptocurrencies and NFTs, you can find an NFT explainer here and learn more about how they’re vulnerable to rampant plagiarism here.

[H/T: Crypto Insiders]