'Charlie bit my finger', the most viral video of all time, to be removed from YouTube and auctioned
With more than 881 million views, the 'Charlie bit my finger' video on YouTube is the most watched viral video of all time.
But on May 23, it will be deleted from the video sharing site and will be auctioned off as an NFT (non-fungible token).
The 2007 video of brothers Harry, then aged three, and Charlie, one, was initially intended to be seen by family and friends.
But the 56-second video went viral after it was shared on a college networking site in the US and has gone on to be viewed hundreds of millions of times worldwide.
The Davis-Carr family, who own the video, said in a statement: "The iconic video will be removed from YouTube and one person will have the opportunity to own it in its new form as a 1/1 NFT, memorialising them in internet history forever.
"The NFT winner will also get the opportunity to create their own parody of the video featuring the original stars, Harry and Charlie."
The statement added: "Harry and Charlie, now 17 and 15, are soon entering adulthood and embarking on the next chapter of their lives, the perfect opportunity to embrace the next iteration of the internet.
"Charlie Bit My Finger has been a huge part of the Davies-Carr family's lives for the past 14 years, and they are excited to welcome others to become a part of their story.
"This is not the end of the beloved video, but rather a new beginning."
NFTs are digital assets such as jpegs and video clips that hold value as a crypto token that are unique and can't be exchanged.
In March, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey sold his first-ever tweet as an NFT for more than 2.9 million US dollars (£2.09 million), donating the money to a charity battling coronavirus in Africa.