The classic viral video “Charlie Bit My Finger” sold at auction on Sunday, May 23, as a non-fungible token (NFT), as reported by Insider.  

The video features two brothers, the elder Harry Davies-Carr and the then year-old Charlie Davies-Carr who bites his older sibling’s finger. The then 3-year-old Harry had playfully put his finger into Charlie’s mouth, setting off a chain of events that eventually had him saying “Charlie bit me!” and had the brothers stumbling into early viral fame.

Since its upload on May 22 2007, US time, the video has garnered 884 million views as of writing. 

On the video’s 14th anniversary, its auction as an NFT began, Saturday, May 22. A day later, the video made the Davies-Carr family $760,000 richer.

An NFT is a digital certificate authenticated through a peer-to-peer blockchain network, similar to cryptocurrencies, that essentially marks a digital object as the single, original copy. 

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The most expensive NFT ever sold is the collection of artworks by 38-year-old American artist Mike Winkelmann or more popularly known as Beeple. His collection sold for $69 million in March 2021.

Prior to “Charlie Bit My Finger,” other classic memes and viral videos have also been sold as NFT including “Leave Britney Alone,” “David After Dentist,” and the Nyan Cat meme, according to Insider. 

The Davies-Carr family also told the site that they will be donating some of the proceeds to “carbon offset costs of mining bitcoins before we even worry about having anything left over” with what’s left to be put towards the education of the brothers. 

Now is also the time to re-watch the video as it will be taken down on May 23, US time, as the rights are transferred to the unnamed auction winner. The video’s title, after the auction, was tweaked to “Charlie bit my finger – again ! – On May 23rd this video will be removed from YouTube :)” 

The father, Howard Davies-Carr, also told Time that their relationship with YouTube is changing, and expressed worries over the video platform’s shifting policies or views on user-generated videos. Time said that revenue associated with the video has decreased.

Selling the property as an NFT gives the family “a little bit more control,” said the father. – Rappler.com