‘Charlie Bit My Finger’ NFT buyer decides to leave the original on YouTube

Earlier this week, a non-fungible token (NFT) of viral YouTube video “Charlie Bit My Finger” sold for $761,000. Following the sale, it initially appeared the original would disappear from YouTube to be “memorialized on the blockchain,” but that won’t be the case.

“After the auction we connected with the buyer, who ended up deciding to keep the video on YouTube,” Howard Davies-Carr, the father of the two brothers who appear in the video, said in an interview with Quartz. “The buyer felt that the video is an important part of popular culture and shouldn’t be taken down. It will now live on YouTube for the masses to continue enjoying as well as memorialized as an NFT on the blockchain.”

Davies-Carr went on to tell the outlet his family offered to delist the clip to increase its sale price. “After 14 years on YouTube through its many iterations, we did feel that NFTs would breathe new life into this piece of internet history,” he said. The family plans to use the proceeds from the auction to pay for the university educations of its two sons. It will also donate part of the money to carbon offset charities.