‘Charlie Bit My Finger’ sells for $760k and is set to be deleted from YouTube

The family behind the one of the original viral videos – “Charlie Bit My Finger” – have sold the original footage as a non-fungible token (NFT) for more than $760,000.

In the video, the two brothers are playing with each other on a sofa when Harry Davies-Carr, 3, puts his finger in his one-year-old brother Charlie Davies-Carr’s mouth.

Harry begins to laugh but then shouts the now famous line: “Charlie bit me!”

Since the video was uploaded back in 2007, it has garnered a staggering 882 million views on YouTube.

Bad news though – the family promised to delete the original clip when the NFT sale was final. However, it is still there at the moment – and YouTubers have of course published their own versions of the clip, which are still currently online.

The sale began on Saturday – on the 14th anniversary of the video being uploaded – and finished on Sunday. According to the BBC, the bidding battle was between two anonymous accounts –“3fmusic” and “mememaster” – with the former winning the bid.

Ahead of the sale, the family said on the website CharlieBitMe.com – which hosted the auction – that the winner would be able to own the video as a “1/1 NFT” and would have the chance to film their own parody of the video with Harry and Charlie, who is now 15.

The site said: “Bid to own the soon-to-be-deleted YouTube phenomenon, Charlie Bit My Finger, leaving you as the sole owner of this lovable piece of internet history (while also getting the chance to say Charlie bit your finger, if you want to see what all the hype is about).”

The family “wanted to commit to the whole evolving ethos of NFT” and “give it a new life,” Harry told Insider. The brothers’ father, Howard, who recorded the viral video so he could share it with friends in the US, added that“NFTs allow us to engage with the fans in a different way.”

NFT technology began back in 2015, but it has since gained popularity in recent years.

They are collectible digital assets that hold value as a crypto token and are non-fungible, meaning it’s unique and can’t be exchanged. Bitcoin is fungible, which means it can be exchanged for an identical bitcoin that is not irreplaceable.

Examples of NFTs include memes, audio, video, texts, and gifs. Celebrities such as Grimes releasing video art, Jack Dorsey releasing the first-ever tweet, Jeezy, Azealia Banks, and others have also gotten into the world of NFTs.

Other memes or videos sold in NFT format include: Leave Britney Alone, the Disaster Girl meme, Four Lads in Jeans, David After Dentist, and the Nyan cat meme, with some making up half a million dollars.

The family, which said it made money on the video from YouTube’s Partner Program after it launched in 2008, has said it will offset the environmental costs of the cryptocurrency.

Its time on YouTube may be running out, but its impact on internet culture won’t be forgotten.