Cryptocurrency and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have been all the rage in recent months, though the craze has died down a bit as market speculation has given way in many cases to the realization that not everything minted on the blockchain is wildly valuable.
Many things are still selling for big price tags, though, and those who have gotten in on the craze to gain ownership of big moments from internet history are still opening their wallets. Leave Britney Alone and the cheese sandwich tweet made infamous by Fyre Fest are two of the most notable examples of cashing in on viral fame. And the latest will actually take a beloved video off the internet forever if you believe the news.
Charlie Bit My Finger, a famous video in which a young boy with an English accent reacts to an even younger boy biting his finger, was a viral sensation in 2007 when it was uploaded to YouTube. And now, the video itself has sold as an NFT for $760,999 and the video will be deleted forever.
As Variety detailed, the sale of the video will mean whoever wins is “the sole owner of this lovable piece of internet history.” There’s even an opportunity to make a “parody video” with the now-grown boys who star in the video.
The NFT auction of “Charlie Bit My Finger” was won by a user with the screen name “3fmusic” on Sunday, May 23, with a bid of $760,999. A Twitter account with the same name — which on Sunday tweeted “CHARLIE BIT ME!” — describes 3F Music as “one of the best and well equipped music studios in [the] Middle East” based in Dubai, but it’s not clear that is the same entity that won the NFT auction.
The boys’ dad, Howard Davies-Carr, told CBS News that the money from the NFT sale “means that Harry goes to university and has a nice place to stay and doesn’t have to have a bar job.”
The video, which currently has more than 880 million views on YouTube, is unlisted on YouTube as of publication but still available here, which means you still have a bit more time if you’d like to see what several earlier iterations of the Internet found funny. There are also, of course, a number of copies floating elsewhere online, so it’s unlikely this means the video will be truly gone forever. And while it’s a shame that we’re losing an early icon of viral fame, in this modern age of asset acquisition and a renewed interest in ownership of digital access, all that matters is who has control of what and not what gets taken away from the majority in the process.
[via Variety]