A popular internet meme ‘Side-eyeing Chloe’, featuring a two-year-old girl, has been sold as a non-fungible token – NFT – for about $74,000.
A Dubai-based music production company 3F Music has bought the meme for 25 Ethereum – a form of cryptocurrency. The firm is yet to respond to the news of the sale.
The meme shows a young Chloe Clem giving a disapproving look after her mother reveals a surprise trip to Disneyland. In the original video, one of the girls, Lily, starts crying when she hears that the family are going to Disneyland. When the camera pans to Chloe, she pulls a reproachful, sceptical face.
Talking to the media, Chloe’s mother, Katie said that she and her family watched the auction from their home in Utah She said that the family was delighted with the sale.
Katie said, “If we’re going based off meme sales before, it’s a bit lower, but we’re so grateful for what it sold for. The money is awesome but it’s just the fact that we get to do this as a family is so much fun.”
The Clem family had initially opened the auction for their NFT for 5 Ethereum, about $15,000, which was taken from the original video, posted on YouTube by Chloe’s mother Katie in 2013.
Katie said that for now, they’re planning to save Ethereum from the sale; however, the family have plans for some of it in the near future.
“In an ever-changing world, it may be worth more next week,” she said, referring to the cryptocurrency’s volatile price. “We’ll definitely get a Walt Disney holiday out of this next year!” she added.
Chloe is now 10-years-old and her video has been watched more than 20 million times. Chloe has also amassed over 500,000 followers on the social media platform Instagram. She has also been featured in a Google advert in Brazil.
The non-fungible tokens – NFTs – are digital tokens that demonstrate ownership of electronic art. NFTs are typically bought and sold for cryptocurrency. Despite owning the digital certificate, buyers do not control the copyright for the image it represents.
Demand for NFTs has recently boomed, attracting millions of dollars in sales this year in high-profile auctions.
In February an NFT of the internet sensation Nyan Cat was sold by the image’s creator for 300 Ethereum, worth more than $880,000. In March, a collection of NFTs by artist Beeple was sold at auction house Christie’s for $50m. The same month, Twitter founder Jack Dorsey sold an NFT of his first-ever tweet for more than $2.9m.
Critics say digital tokens have a huge environmental impact. Others say that their current popularity is an investment bubble.
